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Monday, July 24, 2006

Spotlight: Commuting times

Twelve days a year

COMMUTERS spent an average of 63 minutes a day making the round trip from home to work and back in 2005. Based on a 260-day work year, that is the equivalent of nearly 275 hours of commuting-or nearly 12 full days a year.

If commuters are under the impression that it is taking longer to go to work and come back home each day, they are correct. The average time spent on the daily commute is up from 59 minutes in 1998 and 54 minutes in 1992.

This finding is part of the study The time it takes to get to work and back, which uses data from the 2005 General Social Survey on time use.

Big city commute

Not surprisingly, the average duration of the round trip for workers living in the largest cities is longer than for workers living in smaller communities. For example, the average duration of round trips for workers living in the metropolitan area of Toronto is 37 minutes longer than for workers living in urban areas with populations under 50,000.

The longest commute was indeed in the metropolitan area of Toronto, where commuters took an average of 79 minutes for a round trip, or roughly 340 hours in a work year, or two solid weeks.

For people in Montréal, the round trip took 76 minutes, up from 62 minutes in 1992, the equivalent of 2.5 extra days a year.

In fast-growing Calgary, the round trip took an average of 66 minutes, 14 minutes longer than it did in 1992.

In Vancouver, however, workers spent virtually the same amount of time getting to work in 2005 as they did some 10 years earlier. Vancouver commuters spent 67 minutes in transit in 2005; 68 minutes in 1995; and 70 minutes in 1992.

The ideal commute

Analysis of survey results shows that the most ideal situation for commuting is that of workers who live in an urban area with a population under 50,000, who live less than 5 kilometres from their workplace, who commute by automobile, who have no children to drop off and pick up, and who make no stops.

On average, such workers will spend about 15 minutes on the round trip between their home and their workplace.

Kids, car pooling add time

Conversely, picking up and dropping off children during the commute increases the round-trip travel time by 21 minutes.

In the case of those who commute only by automobile, the duration of the predicted round trip is 12 minutes longer for those engaging in car pooling compared with those who commute alone. It is possible that these workers have to take a less direct route to work, hence the increase in the duration of the commute.

For more information, contact Martin Turcotte (613) 951-2290, or the Client Services and Dissemination Section, (613) 951-5979, Aboriginal and Social Statistics Division.

See previous Spotlight on this subject: Commuting - Transit challenge for cities

See also
Mode of transportation THE DAILY – General Social Survey: Commuting times