Leicester ranked amongst the best UK city for commuting
Commuting to work has been the norm for many years – until the 2020 pandemic struck. Commutes quickly vanished all over the UK as millions of workers switched to working from home. However, two years after the pandemic, things are now starting to transform again.
Recent data has revealed a considerable uptick in the number of workers who are travelling to work. Figures released by Statista show that, as of September 2022, 66% of UK adults were travelling into work, compared to 57% the previous year.
VBQ Speakers has created a ranking to find out which of the UK’s 20 biggest cities are more or less likely to have pleasant commutes. To do this they looked at the following factors: pollution levels, proportion of people without cars, average commute times, time lost in rush hour, traffic density and green urban spaces, giving each factor a score out of 10. These points were then used to calculate an overall score.
Southampton took the top spot with an overall score of 7.43 out of a possible 10. The port city – which is located on the south coast – had an average commute time of 26 minutes per day – the lowest out of every area included in the study. Traffic density was also the lowest with 0.54 (billion vehicle miles of traffic). The sea air also meant the city had one of the best air quality levels.
The runner up was Glasgow, with an overall score of 7.17. The city – based in Scotland’s western Lowlands – had low pollution levels and almost a quarter (24%) is made up of green urban spaces.
Based on VBQ Speakers’ research the 10 best UK commutes for workers’ wellbeing were:
Southampton
Glasgow
Leicester
Bristol
Coventry
Stoke
Bradford
Newcastle
Nottingham
Cardiff
At the bottom of the top 10 was Cardiff. This was largely down to its lack of green urban spaces, which only accounted for 14% of the city. The research revealed high traffic density too with inhabitants of the Welsh capital spending an average of 3 days and 11 hours lost in traffic every year.
Of the total 20 cities analysed, London was in last place. Whilst the number of cars per person was the lowest of all the cities, commuters in the capital spend an average of 79.2 minutes getting to work, losing a yearly average of 4 days 23 hours to the rush hour.
VBQ Speakers Founder & Director, Leo von Bülow-Quirk, said: “The quality of a commute can have a huge impact on a person’s wellbeing and productivity. So, when deciding whether to relocate or apply for a new job, it’s important to take the time to examine in detail what your daily journey will be like.”
