This map shows the average commuting time from home to work in Europe.
(Author: Maps.interlude, Link to image information and dfferent resolutions )
It might be surprising that, in spite of wildly different traffic systems and large differences in the use share of cars, these times are so similar.
An explanation is given in the wikipedia article on Marchetti’s Constant. Basically, the time spent commuting is mostly an anthropological constant, and is largely independent of means of transport and culture.
In other words, if we use faster means of transport, we almost automatically commute larger distances - regardless whether this improves our quality of life or not.
This relationship should probably be central in modern traffic planning, but it is often not considered. (There is an interesting article in German by the traffic scientist Rudolf Pfleiderer, titled “Das Phänomen Verkehr”, which describes in more detail the relationships between traffic, speed, and distance - perhaps somebody knows a good English article?)
spots Latvian flag oh, my country!
Yeah, the numbers sound about right, though I do travel with two public transports to get to and from work, so the walk and wait does add about 10 min on average.
I have a commute of 1 hour, and I love it.
It’s a bicycle route on agricultural roads through fields and meadows, along a river.
And it keeps me fit even though I’m too lazy to exercise regularly.
But yeah, commuting by car is a no-go for me.
That’s always been the number one priority when looking for jobs and apartments.Clearly you’re not lazy because you are exercising regularly by using the bike.
I deliberately put myself into a situation where I’m forced to.
I don’t own a car, and with public transport I’d have to leave 10 minutes earlier.
So with my morning routine planned to the minute to maximize snoozing time, I only have the choice between taking the bicycle and being late for work.
I do similar - 14 kilometers by bike, a good part along a motorway, a park, and a river. What motivates me is that I count it as daily excercise which I just need to stay healthy. And if the weather is shit, crusty ice or thunderstorms predicted, I happen to use the commuter train (which is a tad slower for the door-to-door connection).
But my “ideal” commute time is around half an hour.
With 200 million workers in the EU, that’s 200 million hours of unpaid, wasted time each work day.
Imagine how much shareholder value could be generated if we turned that into unpaid work time!-Friedrich Merz
I think 50% of commute time should be time paid by companies. This would not only save fossil energy and worker’s time for their family, but also foster work from home, reduce suburban sprawl and improve probably a lot of other undesirable trends.
It’s one of Meta’s main resources. Remove the commute time and engagement will drop.
Ha, losers. My commute is more than double that of Latvia!
The actual link the the image is: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Average_one-way_commuting_time_from_home_to_work.jpg So:
Thanks!
Does it affect Windows boot time for homeoffice?
Well, Windows 11 boot times certainly didn’t get any shorter, and my work laptop’s fan is making so much noise that i am thinking in sharing my asthma meds with the poor thing. Glad that my home Debian boots in five seconds or so! :-)
The question is: From the majority of people with short commutes, who needs really a car for such low distances?
I guess it depends on what you mean by “short”. It takes me 40 minutes by car to get to work if there’s traffic, 30 by motorbike or car with no traffic, 60 by bicycle and I’d need a shower when I arrive. Public transport would be over 60 minutes because of inconvenient line changes.
I used to cycle to work irregularly when I was nearer, but it wasn’t great: my city used to be a bike-first city, but nowadays there’s too many cars and the infrastructure hasn’t kept up, bikes used to go on the road, and now it’s not possible, bicycle lanes have been added but they’ve done a poor job, with frequent crossings and slow-downs.
I guess it depends on what you mean by “short”. It takes me 40 minutes by car to get to work if there’s traffic,
The point of the article with the Marchetti constant is: You probably don’t go that far because you absolutely, objectively need to. Instead, you probably go that far because you have half an hour time to commute (which is the time budget of most people), and can use a car. The fact that you use a car probably causes you to go a farther distance.
Proof: People who voluntarily don’t use cars see much less need to commute such distances.
The point of the article with the Marchetti constant is: You probably don’t go that far because you absolutely, objectively need to. Instead, you probably go that far because you have half an hour time to commute (which is the time budget of most people), and can use a car. The fact that you use a car probably causes you to go a farther distance.
Well, if we consider work not necessary, he is right. But I have my doubts that what he wrote in the 1930’s still hold. Too many things have changed.
The point Marchetti do about the fact that you arrange your life around the workplace now seems to be not that true anymore. At the time, to change jobs were not a so common thing, people often worked in the same place all their working life, so it would made sense to arrange everythig else around it.
Today I would say that it is the opposite, people find a place where they can live and then try to arrange everything else around it, since it is relatively easier to change work than to find another home.Proof: People who voluntarily don’t use cars see much less need to commute such distances.
People who voluntarily don’t use cars only show that they are lucky enough to not need to.
I guess my constant would be a little lower then, this is the longest commute I’ve ever had and it’s supposed to be temporary, moreover I have remote work days on contract.
I guess it depends on what you mean by “short”.
With “short” I mean no longer than the averages shown in the map. With an average time <= 30 minutes and an average car speed of ~ 35 km/h in cities, this translates to about 18 kilometers of distance.
Of course, there are people which commute longer or farther. But as the map shows, they are the exception - not the norm.
If Turkey is a European country, then France is an island in the pacific ocean.
What happened to Latvia?
Interesting with Iceland… Such a low density, low public transport country, but maybe they just really nailed driving.
Living in the usa the shortest commute I’ve ever had was 30min. The longest, an hour. I can’t wait for gas to keep going up, fuck this country and the losers who voted for trump
It shows either >MAX or unknown (plus very few others). Not quite useful this way.
It shows either >MAX or unknown (plus very few others). Not quite useful this way.
Can you explain your context? Why are you thinking this?
