Nobody wants to spend 2-3 hours, 5 days per week driving to and from work yet millions of people do this every weekday. In today’s blog post we will go over some of the pros and cons of commuting to work so you can make an informed decision when choosing whether or not to turn up that “distance” dial on your job search! 

One can sit down and compile quite a long list of both pros and cons for commuting. For pros, better pay immediately comes to mind and for cons longer days is at the top of the list. In this blog we’ll list the key findings of a recent study on how commuting affects your life as summarized by Adi Gaskell.

Findings

1. Our commutes change who we are – specifically in how we behave towards others
2. Our commutes change our relationship with cities – specifically how we access services and undertake regular activities such as shopping
3. Our commutes are ingrained in the rest of our lives – commuting is not a freestanding activity, but is something that reflects and reverberates onto nearly every other aspect of our life in some way
4. Commuting stress is caused by various factors – it isn’t just the time/distance that stresses us about.  For instance it might be when the commute is delayed or we don’t get a seat.  It is also something that both new and old commuters experience.
5. There are various strategies to alleviate stress – these include policy based strategies such as building new roads or better trains, but also individual strategies, more flexible working options and so on.

Read more analysis of the findings by Adi Gaskell and check out the study website.