Europeans find journey to work more stressful than their jobs

Rush-hour travel in some of Europe’s major cities is now such an ordeal that commuters are more likely to find their journey to work stressful than their job, according to a new survey.

Visitors to London are also feeling the pressure of being stuck in traffic. In fact, it was only yesterday that Anand Mahindra, chairman & MD, Mahindra & Mahindra, had tweeted: "Gridlocked in traffic from Heathrow to Central London for over an hour and a half now. Have lost the right to whine about Mumbai traffic. . ."

The Ford European Commuter Survey of 5,503 commuters in Barcelona, Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, and Rome showed that 26 percent of people find commuting stressful, compared to 23 percent who find work stressful. In Rome, more people highlighted commuting as a source of stress than moving into a new house. Londoners found commuting more stressful than visiting the dentist! Overall, one in three people find commuting increasingly stressful, and over one in four say their daily journeys are becoming increasingly unpredictable.

Ford is cooperating with cities worldwide as part of Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s plan to address the transportation challenges brought on by population growth and urbanisation through innovation in areas such as connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, customer experience and big data. Andreas Ostendorf, vice-president, Sustainability, Environment & Safety Engineering, Ford of Europe, presented the plan at the Sustainable Brands Barcelona conference, in Spain, on April 27.

“For many people it can feel like they have done a full day before they have even set foot in the office,” Ostendorf said. “Society is becoming increasingly urban with cities growing in size and number, and we need a transport infrastructure that can keep pace with that expansion. Protecting the freedom of mobility requires more than just new train routes and roads, we all have to work together on a network of interconnected and sustainable solutions.”
“We are working together with a number of city authorities to provide a wider variety of affordable, accessible and sustainable transport solutions,” Ostendorf said. “Pedestrian walkways, bicycles, buses, trains, vehicles, trams, shuttle buses – all of these need to be connected and integrated to optimise urban mobility in the future.”

Testing transportation ideas
Ford has already this year announced a significant number of global experiments to help test transportation ideas for better customer experiences, more flexible user-ship models and social collaboration that can reward customers.

In Europe alone these include the Handle on Mobility experiment to study how electric bicycles can work seamlessly with cars and public transport to deliver faster and easier daily commutes and help businesses operating in urban centres.

Further global experiments include the Innovate Mobility Series. Ford invited innovators and developers around the world to create solutions for specific mobility challenges in England, Portugal, North America and South America, Africa, India and China, with the series continuing in Australia this year. Challenges have included finding technology solutions to identify open parking spaces in urban areas, better ways to navigate crowded cities and the use of navigation and other tools to help people gain access to medical care in remote areas.

Ford is part of the Sustainable Mobility Project 2.0, organised by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The project brings together mobility-related companies and relevant stakeholders in order to work towards delivering improved access to safe and low-impact mobility.

Commuter stress
A recent study by the U.K. Office of National Statistics shows that each minute added to a commute affects anxiety, happiness and general well-being. And according to another survey, total journey times for commuters in the cities Ford examined can average out at as much as 111 minutes in the case of Rome, 104 minutes for London, and 100 minutes for Madrid.

The Ford European Commuter Survey also showed that across Europe, commuters in Rome were the most likely to say commuting was increasingly stressful (57 percent), followed by those in London (41 percent), and Paris (35 percent). The survey also showed that 49 per cent of those who use three or more forms of transport currently find commuting increasingly stressful, and 38 percent find commuting increasingly unpredictable.

For many, this means being late for work. Of those surveyed, 63 percent said they are late at least once a month due to hold-ups, and 27 per cent are late at least three times a month. Nearly all surveyed said they set off for work early. The 30+ minutes that 15 percent of commuters add to their journey each day equates to almost five full days over the course of a year.

Of those aged 16-24, only ten per cent claimed not to find commuting stressful (compared with 19 per cent overall), and 43 per cent admitted failing to get to work at least once in the past 12 months. Those aged 25-34 were most likely to set off for work earliest to avoid hold-ups, and most likely to say commutes are becoming increasingly stressful (39 per cent), and unpredictable (34 per cent).

Commuters in Rome and London reported the greatest difficulties. More than half described commuting in the Italian capital as increasingly stressful, while 8 per cent of workers in Rome set off more than an hour early. In London, 80 per cent said they were late for work at least once a month, with 49 per cent failing to get to work at all on at least one occasion during the last year. Across Europe those who mainly travel by bus or train, were more likely to be late, and to be prevented from getting to work completely.