Commuting : perceptions and subjective well-being

Commuting is a routine part of everyday working life for millions around the world. Repeated and obligatory parts of the day are often overlooked, viewed as vacuous tasks, void of any intrinsic value and with no impact on well-being. On the contrary, these seemingly menial parts of the day have the ability to act both as a daily stressor or as a therapeutic respite from life. Unraveling the complex relationship that individuals have with their commute, and the subjective well-being effects of commuting, is key to understanding how to direct the commuting experience towards the latter. The research presented in this thesis was undertaken in this vein. Shedding light on areas largely unexplored in the literature and on the impact of emerging trends or phenomena on commuting. Commuting was found to be amongst the least enjoyable activities in the day; however, active commuting is significantly more enjoyable than passive commuting. Commuting has little impact on the enjoyment of other daily activities. A new subjective measure of commute time, the Actual-Acceptable Ratio (AAR), is introduced for inclusion in studies on commute well-being. Attitudes regarding the commute during the pandemic did not differ significantly to those expressed pre-COVID. Increases in working hours spent working from home were found to be positively correlated to an individual’s desire to work from home in the future. Thematic analysis further unveiled the complex, and often contradictory, nature of an individual’s relationship with their commute. This thesis looks to spark discussion and inspire further work in areas yet to be comprehensively understood. Whilst the limitations of the studies prevent the findings from informing policy in their current form, they lay foundations that may be built upon by others and highlight the potential for insight

Workforce commuting and subjective well-being

Commuting to and from work can constitute a significant proportion of a person’s day and can have a considerable impact on one’s well-being. Using the UK Time Use Survey (UKTUS) dataset, the experienced well-being effects of commuting, in terms of enjoyment, were evaluated relative to other daily activities. Commutes using passive modes of transport (e.g., car, train) were found to be the least enjoyable activities carried out in the day. Commuting using active modes of transport (e.g., cycle, walk) was also amongst the least enjoyable activities, although enjoyment of active commuting was significantly higher than that of passive commuting. This paper also assessed differences in the experienced well-being of other daily activities (such as working and physical exercise) during the workday between those who did and those who did not commute. Using a series of multilevel analyses, commuting was shown to have little impact on an individual’s enjoyment of the other daily activities in which they partake. Enjoyment of all daily activities was found to be just as high on workdays on which participants commuted using active modes of transport as on non-commuting workdays. With the exception of only Personal Care activities and Sleep, there were no meaningful differences in enjoyment of any daily activities between any of the three commuting workday groups and non-commuting workdays