The time we take to get to work has hardly changed over the last 100 years, according to new research from Lancaster University.

Although almost half the British population now drives rather than walks to work, we live three times further away from our work than we did in the late nineteenth century.

Professor Colin Pooley, who is presenting the research at a Royal Geographical Society conference, says the most surprising finding is the consistency in our commuting patterns.

"We all think the car revolutionised the way we travel, but when you look at the details you see a lot of things at the human level have not changed at all," he said in an interview before the conference.

Since the 1890s people have spent an average of 20-30 minutes travelling to work, but the distance has trebled from under 2.5 miles (4km) in 1890 to 8 miles (13km) today.

In London, people spend over 50 minutes on average getting to work, and this figure has been relatively constant since 1940. The average distance traveled to work in London is now over 12.5 miles (20km).

The gender divide

The research has also found marked differences between the commuting patterns of men and women.

Women have consistently used slower forms of transport than men and are still heavily dependent on walking, buses, and the London underground, according to the new research.

Men, by contrast, have opted for faster vehicles such as cars, motorbikes and overground trains.

Professor Pooley acknowledges that men may choose transport which is perceived as faster, but may not actually be so. In the 1920s, for example, 20% of men cycled to work compared to only 11% who took the bus.

"Men may be more likely to use independent forms of transport, such as bicycles and cars, whereas women use more communal forms of transport.

"This maybe because men like to retain more independence and privacy, and also some form of individuality," he said.

Men have also tended to travel further to work. The research relates this to lifestyle restraints, such as married women with children who tend to find work much closer the home than their husbands. As men get older they tend to work further away, whereas women find jobs nearer and nearer home as they take on more childcare and household responsibilities.

"Men at each time period have tended to travel longer but faster," said Professor Pooley.

In the modern period, from the 1960s to today, about half of men travel by car, and a third of women. The gender gap has got much closer since the 1940s when cars first became common, and four times more men than women drove to work.

The research concludes that throughout the century both men and women have often put up with long and inconvenient commuting because of the uncertainty of jobs and other lifestyle matters.
 

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©