Commuters waste years by travelling

A study has revealed that the average commuter spends almost 29 working days each year travelling to work, equating to more than a year over a working life.

The statistics, released today by Work Wise UK and the AA, also reveal that commuters who spend more than three hours a day commuting will spend 96 working days travelling, or almost four years during their career. A working day is defined as eight hours.

The statistics have been released as part of a push to raise awareness of alternatives to commuting.

Measures suggested include: car sharing, cycling and taking public transport or, more fundamentally, adopting working practices to reduce the amount of commuting and work-related travel.

Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, said: 'The vast majority of travel is work-related. A key benefit of the adoption of smarter working is that 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.

'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.'