Smarter Working Solution to Traffic and Pollution
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).
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.
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.
(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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