Wow, you've got a few issues going on there.
First, the whole free time thing is not an issue. If you were working too, you would have the exact same time limitations, so try to see it as you having a lot more flexibility to meet your friends on their terms on their schedules.
I'm free 4-6 days a week and I socialize regularly. Rarely during work hours, but others working doesn't slow we down.
Second, making friends is super easy. You just need to know how to make friends, and it's not what society tells you. Spending leisure time with people doesn't really build bonds, that's why a lot of adult friendships seem to go nowhere. Some drinks or meals together and shooting the shit about life and interests does not make good quality bonds.
You have to go through something together, share an emotional experience, tackle a challenge, whatever.
Do the things that naturally form bonds between people and bonds will form. If I want to be someone's friend, I figure out a way to tackle a challenge with them. I help people move, help them on home projects, invite them over for batch cooking, invite them to join a team of some sort, whatever.
Shared triumph over challenge is more connecting than shared lifestyle/opinions any day. Volunteer, play a team sport, enter a trivia tournament, take a challenging course, etc.
Third, dating and women being timid.
Sorry, can't help you with this. From what I remember from dating in my 20s, 90+% of my options turned out to be just terrible. I can't imagine the ratio changes much. It's a volume game, don't be discouraged just because the vast majority of fish you catch need to be thrown back.
Yeah, it's tedious, but hasn't dating always been tedious?
That said, if you start volunteering, taking courses, or playing team sports, you are infinitely more likely to meet people with similar interests whom you will already have a connection with through the shared activity/challenge.
There are also a lot of classes that tend to be popular with women: dance classes, cooking classes, language classes, sewing classes, writing classes, sommelier classes etc. So you can meet women, bond with them, and learn something that actually makes you more interesting to the exact kind of person you are seeking.
If not to directly meet women, these activities will introduce you to countless other interesting people with similar interests and those people might know other interesting and single women.
I have a number of single female friends over 40, and none of them are afraid of their own shadow. So if you meet someone male or female who is absolutely fantastic, then they probably have fantastic single friends, so friend that person up. Just keep adding to your social network until you are replete with quality human bonds.