Commuting and wellbeing: a critical overview of the literature with implications for policy and future research

ABSTRACT

This review provides a critical overview of what has been learnt about commuting’s impact on subjective wellbeing (SWB). It is structured around a conceptual model which assumes commuting can affect SWB over three time horizons: (i) during the journey; (ii) immediately after the journey; and (iii) over the longer term. Our assessment of the evidence shows that mood is lower during the commute than other daily activities and stress can be induced by congestion, crowding and unpredictability. People who walk or cycle to work are generally more satisfied with their commute than those who travel by car and especially those who use public transport. Satisfaction decreases with duration of commute, regardless of mode used, and increases when travelling with company. After the journey, evidence shows that the commute experience “spills over” into how people feel and perform at work and home. However, a consistent link between commuting and life satisfaction overall has not been established. The evidence suggests that commuters are generally successful in trading off the drawbacks of longer and more arduous commute journeys against the benefits they bring in relation to overall life satisfaction, but further research is required to understand the decision making involved. The evidence review points to six areas that warrant policy action and research: (i) enhancing the commute experience; (ii) increasing commute satisfaction; (iii) reducing the impacts of long duration commutes; (iv) meeting commuter preferences; (v) recognising flexibility and constraints in commuting routines and (vi) accounting for SWB impacts of commuting in policy making and appraisal.

KEYWORDS:

• Commuting
• long duration commutes
• stress
• commute satisfaction
• subjective wellbeing
• life satisfaction

Acknowledgements

This paper was written following a symposium on “Commuting and Wellbeing” which was held in Bristol on Friday 23rd June 2017 to bring together researchers working in this area. The symposium was financially supported by the Commuting & Wellbeing study which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (Grant Number ES/N012429/1). The project was led by Dr Kiron Chatterjee at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) and ran for eighteen months from February 2016 to July 2017.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Kiron Chatterjee http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6432-9230

Samuel Chng http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8885-4400

Ben Clark http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2910-6143

Jonas De Vos http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4919-2157

Dick Ettema http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8404-5510

Susan Handy http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4141-1290

Louise Reardon http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7638-6702

Notes

1 This data was collected by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EuroFound) and the methodology used is not described. Our view is that the National Travel Survey results are more reliable.

2 Potentially, commuting might elicit affective responses before the commute, for example, in preparation or anticipation of travel but this has not been investigated in studies to date.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/N012429/1].