Average commuting times for Australians have increased by 23% in 15 years. And those with long commutes are less satisfied with their work, working hours, work-life balance and even pay.
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Articles on Commuting
Displaying 1 - 20 of 42 articles
While governments focus on how to ease congestion and make affordable housing more accessible for workers in our biggest cities, fast rail could be a mixed blessing for regional cities.
Workers with long commutes are more likely to become sick. They also receive less net income (after deducting travel costs) and less leisure time.
When a city gets to a certain size, it starts to make sense to have multiple centres of activity, and three are planned for Sydney. So what needs to be done to bring the city closer to this goal?
In Sydney, 44 of 178 train stations have a single side entrance. It adds up to 12 minutes of daily travel time for people walking the long way to their platform. It's enough to make some drive instead.
The Commuter Car Park Fund announced in the budget sounds big, but is likely to create only around 30,000 extra spaces – a marginal benefit for Australia's 1.2 million daily public transport users.
Minorities are driving the bicycling boom, but bike infrastructure investments often neglect their needs. A new study explores what riders in low-income and minority neighborhoods want.
Build it and they will come: when cities plan for bike lanes, it results in more bicyclists and encourages a bicycle economy.
There is a wide problem with the way society talks about gender equality.
In the election bidding wars, parties commit billions to transport projects, often before all the work needed to justify these has been done. More cost-effective alternatives hardly get a look-in.
Urban growth has had much less impact on commuting distances and times than media reports would suggest. The explanations include jobs being widely dispersed and residents' adaptable decision-making.
Busting congestion requires some creativity - and evidence-based methods. Here are four of these.
What's your risk of dying if you cycle to work, versus the health benefits? What about walking, or driving, or catching a train? Here are the risks and benefits.
We see the daily commute as a waste of time. But there's another way to see the experience: a whole life in the events and memories we form during these journeys, which change us as human beings.
Urban planners often hope bike-share schemes might reduce reliance on cars and help with congestion. But very few of those who use share bikes have switched from driving.
Daily routine affects how much polluted air we breathe.
In Sydney, a 'latte line', that runs from the airport to Parramatta and up to the northwest, divides white-collar jobs from blue-collar jobs. This perpetuates inequality.
Even using public transport is better for your health than travelling by car.
We spend on average about an hour a day travelling. Given this is unlikely to change, how can we make this time more productive and enjoyable?
A comparison of Australian cities reveals cyclists and walkers are still very much a minority of commuters, despite the economic, health and environmental costs. Action on three fronts is needed.
Top contributors
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Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute
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Research fellow, UNSW
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PhD Candidate, School of Global, Urban & Social Studies, RMIT University
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Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of Queensland
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Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Transport, University of Sydney
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Runing Ye is a Friend of The Conversation.
Research Fellow, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne
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Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University
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Professor of Public Health, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor, Cities Research Institute, Griffith University
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Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University
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Professor of Urban Policy and Director, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University
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Research Fellow, The University of Queensland
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Honorary Research Associate, University of Western Australia
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Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University
