Commuting : perceptions and subjective well-being

Abstract

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