As companies and governments slowly start to apply pressure on their workforce to come back into the office instead of working from home, a new study looks at the average time commuters spend in their vehicle over the course of a year.
The study, carried out by Autotrader UK , looked at survey results for 17 countries around the world. It show some variance between countries, with a roughly 40 percent difference in time spent between the top-ranked and lowest-ranked countries for time spent.
Those behind the study explain the variance comes due to a number of different factors at play, including traffic congestion, how many metropolises a country has, the amount of urban sprawl in play, and simply long distances between home and work – in some countries, that average distance is much larger than in others.
Logically, the quality of public transportation infrastructure should alleviate traffic congestion and thus reduce commuting times, but even in countries with extensive rail and commuter train services like the Netherlands, which happens to be bicycle-mad to boot, commuters pile up the hours spent going to and from work in private vehicles. The country ranks sixth on the list, with an average total of 8 days, 19 hours and 26 minutes spent doing the deed over the course of a year. That’s about an hour longer than car-mad USA (#12), believe it or not.
Leading the way is South Africa, where data shows car commuters spent an average of 10 days, 4 hours and 48 minutes in their vehicle traveling between home and work. At the other end of the list, we find Mexico, where commuters spend on average 6 days, 2 hours and 10 minutes in their vehicle.
And Canada, the land of really big distances? It sits just about in the middle, at #10 (8 days and 29 minutes). That’s a little over 40 minutes more than the average for its neighbour to the south. Somehow, we suspect that if you took GTA commutes out of the calculation, we would rank much lower.
Here’s the full ranking of the 17 countries looked at:
1) South Africa - 10d 4h 48m
2) India - 10d 1h 55m
3) Ireland - 9d 14h 10m
4) Greece - 9d 4h 48m
5) Poland - 8d 21h 36m
6) Netherlands - 8d 19h 26m
7) Italy - 8d 16h 48m
8) New Zealand - 8d 16h 34m
9) Germany - 8d 9h 36m
10) Canada - 8d 0h 29m
11) Australia - 7d 17h 46m
12) USA – 7d 17h 31m
13) France 7d 11h 2m
14) UK - 7d 2h 24m
15) Spain - 6d 18h 43m
16) Portugal - 6d 11h 46m
17) Mexico - 6d 2h 10m
The study also sounded out motorists about their general state of being when they commute. As in, are they annoyed, angry, stressed, or do they see it as a relaxing time of day? Here are the least stressed commuters:
1) South Africa (72 percent say their commute tends be relaxing)
2) USA (57 percent)
3) New Zealand (55 percent)
4) Germany (54 percent)
5) Netherlands (53 percent)
And, here are the most stressed:
1) India (34 percent find their commutes stressful overall)
2) Greece (30 percent)
3) Mexico (29 percent)
4) Italy (26 percent
5) UK (22 percent)
We should point out that by far the biggest cause of stress and irritation was traffic congestion, according to respondents. Seems a long drive is fine with most people as long they can keep moving.
As for what activities make those commutes less stressful and more enjoyable? By a wide margin, the most effective pastime is listening to music, a podcast or an audiobook. 82 percent gave that as their go-to therapy. Rated second, at 47 percent, being alone, while 32 percent found just the act of driving was the cure (in case you’re wondering, that percentage was highest, at 53 percent, among Poles).