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Commuters in the North West now spend
26 working days a year travelling
COMMUTERS from the North West now face
an average 56-minute daily journey; the equivalent of 26 working days a year,
according to TUC analysis released to mark Work Wise UK's Commute Smart Week.
Getting to and from work now takes commuters in the North West an extra 7
minutes a day compared with a decade ago; the equivalent of an extra 26 hours a
year spent on congested roads and packed trains. Nationally, commuters are
facing an average daily journey of 58 minutes, up 5 minutes from a decade ago.
The number of workers facing very long commutes (over 2 hours) is up by 34%,
with 3,291,012 now facing very long journeys.
Rail commuters face the longest journeys,
taking an average of 2 hours and 12 minutes every day; an increase of 4 minutes
on the last decade. Drivers spend 52 minutes on the road to work and back (up by
4 minutes), while bus commuters must set aside 39 minutes a day (up by 7
minutes). Cyclists (43 minutes) and walkers (30 minutes) have the quickest daily
journeys.
Commute times are up across the country...
Londoners take the longest to get to and from work:- 1 hour and 21 minutes each
day; up by 6 minutes in the last decade. Welsh workers have the shortest daily
commute in Great Britain, at 49 minutes. Every English region now faces an
average commute time of over 50 minutes a day.
The TUC blames growing commutes on 3 main factors:-
► Low Government spending on transport
infrastructure.
► Employers not offering flexible and home working.
► Real wages falling while property prices soar, making it hard to move closer to
work.
TUC Regional Secretary for the North West Lynn
Collins said:- "We're now spending 26 working days a year going to and
from work. That's wasted time, which could have been better spent with family
and friends. Commutes should be getting shorter, but inflexible bosses and
our cash tarved
transport system mean we're wasting more and more time getting to work. It
doesn't have to be like this. Home working and less rigid hours would take
pressure off road and rail. And serious Government investment could give us a
transport network that's up to the job."
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