This
section of Telecommuting 2000 consists of 3 parts:
The costs
to UK businesses
Outside London most people (70% on average) commute to
work by car and about one third of commute trips are into
an urban area. Towns and cities across the country are
regularly gridlocked, with pollution levels reaching
unacceptable levels all too frequently.
More car ownership, a function of increasing
prosperity, on already crowded roads, with little
alternative methods of transport, produce the inevitable
result – more congestion. And given that there is
still a demand for increasing car ownership, the
likelihood is that in future there will be even more
congestion, and even more costs to employers, individuals
and society.
The implications of the costs of congestion to
industry and employers are great. The most recent
estimate from the CBI calculates the cost to employers as
being approximately £20 billion per year.
For companies employing staff who clock up high
mileage, the financial impact is enormous. For example,
staff driving approximately 20,000 miles per year on
company business would incur costs associated with
congestion alone, amounting of around £5,000 each (when
taking into account their need to commute), in addition
to direct costs of around £10,000 for the mileage.
Public transport delays can occur on the road with
buses caught in jams. Freight and public service vehicles
and their crews are frequently paralysed by congestion.
The costs of commuting
The average worker in the UK commutes 2,906 miles pa
and travels 1,622 miles on business by car. Overall,
commuting accounts for approximately 78.5 billion miles
of car travel, with 44 billion miles driven while on
business.
Some costs are borne by employers – the costs of
inefficiency, missed appointments, late arrivals, and
overrun schedules. But employees bear the costs of
commuting, which accounts for a quarter of the costs of
motoring, being approximately £500 pa per employee, or
£13.5 billion in total per year.
So each year employers lose at least £20 billion
through congestion, and employees pay £13.5 billion to
commute by car, making £33.5 billion altogether before
looking at the effects on the environment, on employees'
health and their "work/life balance".
Public transport costs for the millions who commute to
work in London every day can also be punitive, with the
costs of season tickets running into £ thousands for
those with longer journeys.
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