The average commuter spends almost 29 working days each year travelling to work, according to research – more than most people’s annual leave.
Londoners spend more than triple this amount of time on their commute – 96 working days in a year, figures from Work Wise UK and the AA suggest.
The enormous amount of time and money spent on commuting needs to be addressed, according to the organisations.
Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, said: “In a world increasingly driven by the internet and mobile communications, the requirement to travel to and from work at the same time to the same place every weekday is going to look more and more old-fashioned.”
He added: “A change to working practices, and hence travel patterns, is one of the solutions to road congestion and public transport overcrowding, and probably the only one that is achievable in the short term.”
Work Wise said allowing people to work from home, or making use of technology that enables staff to work wherever they are without travelling will help reduce demand for travel.
In addition, flexible hours could help reduce rush hour peaks on roads and public transport systems, the group suggested.
Edmund King, AA president, agreed better commuting practices are needed.
“The equivalent of our annual holiday from work is lost commuting by car,” he said.
“Mondeo man has been hit with an 11 per cent increase in his car running costs in the last year so may wish to consider car-sharing, eco driving, avoiding the rush, taking the bus or if possible working from home even one day per week. Smarter commuting can reduce costs, carbon and congestion,” he added.
Added to the time costs of work travel, car commuters now face record fuel prices, adding 16 per cent in the last year to fuel bills just to get to work. With 18 million people commuting by car, that is a total additional cost of nearly £866 million a year, Work Wise said.
Share this article:
What are these?