I really enjoy capturing data myself but I don't have a permanent observatory or dark skies at home, so I'm limited to narrow band across a small wedge of sky and LRGB a few new moon weekends a year when the skies are clear. So, I'm quite happy to supplement my meagre quantities of DIY data with data from remote systems.
Instead of hiring time on a remote scope I have taken the alternate approach of sharing the cost of running a remote system with a few like minded individuals. We select targets as a group and then everybody has access to the data. So far that has worked quite well despite the potential for arguments over targets and half a dozen people all posting images that look much the same at once
It's a bigger commitment and more effort to organise but maybe worth considering...
Cheers,
Rick.