May 19 , 2008 - SMARTER COMMUTING SOLUTIONS
The average commuter(1) spends almost 29 working days each year travelling to work, equating to more than five years over a working life, according to new figures from Work Wise UK, in conjunction with the Automobile Association (AA) released today (May 19), the transport focus day of Work Wise Week.
For many London commuters, who travel more than three hours per day, the figure is a staggering 96 working days each year, or 18 years during a career.
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(2). And there are also other costs, such as the cost of congestion, the cost to the environment of the pollution and emissions, the rising cost of obesity due to low levels of exercise and other health costs due to stress and time spent commuting, and the cost to business of the time wasted in traffic jams.
With car ownership rising five million to 27.8 million in the last decade, many parts of the UK are currently experiencing road congestion. This is seen by commuters as a significant inconvenience, by businesses as an unavoidable cost, and by local and national governments as a serious obstacle to sustained economic growth. Estimates are that if recent trends continue, by 2025 congestion will waste around £22 billion worth of time in England alone each year (3).
Work Wise UK and the AA are suggesting alternatives to commuting by car which will not only save the individual cash, but also save carbon emissions, pollution, stress and wasted time, as well as having a positive impact upon congestion levels. These include simple steps such as car sharing, cycling and taking public transport, or more fundamentally, adopting smarter working practices to enable home working, flexible working, remote and mobile working, to reduce the amount of commuting and work-related travel needed.
Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, explained: "The vast majority of travel is work-commuting or work-related. A key benefit of the adoption of smarter working is it reduces the overall need to travel, and to travel at specific times.
“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. This, and travelling many miles to attend meetings, will be increasingly unnecessary considering the technology available, and the nature of the global market.
“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."
Edmund King, AA president said: “The equivalent of our annual holiday from work is lost commuting by car. Mondeo man has been hit with an 11% 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.”
Getting people out of their cars and onto public transport, cycling and walking is a solution which has been promoted for decades, with particular success in London. However, as the population of many urban centres continues to grow, take up of flexible working practices is becoming an increasingly important way to reduce the strain on the transport networks.
Ben Plowden, director of smarter travel at Transport for London said: “Londoners are already changing the way they travel – record investment in transport has led to an unprecedented five per cent shift away from the use of private cars to public transport, walking and cycling in the last nine years. Encouraging as this is, London’s population is expected to grow by around 800,000 people during the next 15 years, which will greatly increase the demand on the transport network, particularly during peak times.
“Transport for London helps the capital’s employers take advantage of the opportunities that smarter, more flexible working practices offer through our Workplace Travel Planning programme.”
Phil Flaxton continued: “Apart from massive investment in roads and transport, the only real solution is to fundamentally change working practices to better manage the limited resources we have.
“Allowing people to work from home, even occasionally, enabling them to work from offices or business centres closer to their location, or providing them with the technology to enable them to work wherever they are without travelling, will all reduce the demand for travel.
“Allowing flexible working, such as flexible hours and condensed working days, enable staff to travel outside peak hours, thus spreading the travel demand over the day, stretching and reducing the rush hour peaks on both the roads and public transport systems.”
To assist organisations wanting to adopt smarter working practices, Work Wise UK provides guidance and assistance through its website (www.workwiseuk.org) and via a national network of advisers, and offers a framework for organisations to work to, culminating in the award of the Work Wise Mark of Excellence.
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(1) Average UK commuter spends 54 minutes commuting per day (AA). Hours and days calculated assuming 7.5 hour working day, five day working week, 240 day working year. 10 per cent of commuters, mainly in London, commute two hours per day, and ‘super commuters’ are those who commute for three or more hours every day.
(2) Figures based upon average commute of 8.7 miles, average consumption 31mpg, 18 million car commuters and an average fuel increase of 95.15ppl to 110.86ppl between 2007 and 2008 (AA).
(3)Eddington Report 2006
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Issued on behalf of Work Wise UK by Chelgate Limited
Notes to editors:
- Work Wise UK is organised by the IT Forum Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation.
- Supporters of the Work Wise UK campaign include the CBI, TUC, the British Chambers of Commerce, BT, Transport for London, Equal Opportunities Commission, Scope, the RAC Foundation, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, Technology Means Business, Henley Management College and the Association for Commuter Transport.
- A dedicated electronic media centre has been established for journalists to obtain further information, to download print-quality materials, and to register for media updates about Work Wise UK. This can be accessed either through the main website or directly at www.workwiseuk.pressrooms.net
- Further information about Work Wise UK can be found on the website www.workwiseuk.org.·
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