Travelling by rail now takes twice as long as by car
‘Congestion at record levels’
‘Fast and reliable journeys’
COMMUTING by public transport takes almost twice as long as driving, official figures reveal.
The Department for Transport analysis paints a bleak picture of the plight of commuters amid record levels of traffic.
The average door-to-door journey time to reach a town or city centre during the morning rush is 50 minutes by public transport – but just 27 minutes by car.
In London the equivalent figures are 63 and 33 minutes. The calculations include the time spent walking to a bus or train stop as well as waiting for a service to arrive.
The analysis also makes the rather generous assumption that the service arrives on time. ‘These striking figures paint a picture of a country whose public transport infrastructure is not keeping up with the demands of the economy,’ said Wes Streeting, a Labour member of the Commons Treasury committee.
‘Faced with the choice of longer commutes by public transport or a door-to- door journey in their own car, people will obviously choose their car. The failure to invest in public transport infrastructure, particularly in towns and rural areas, is coming at a cost to communities, businesses and the environment.’
Luke Bosdet of the AA said the figures showed why many avoid public transport. He added: ‘With congestion at record levels at peak times, most people will find it hard to believe that car travel times are so much better than for public transport.
‘ It shows the failure of local authorities to plan and implement flexible and efficient public transport alternatives.’ The DfT’s analysis employs software to track journey times from homes to offices, hospitals, shops and schools across England.
Satnav data is used to trace car trips while timetable information is used to calculate public transport times.
A separate report published by the DfT last month found the average speed of drivers on major local roads had slipped below 25mph amid record traffic levels. It also found that motorways and A-roads were so gridlocked that drivers needed to add an extra two thirds to their journey time.
The average speed for those who commute by car in towns and cities has dropped below 18mph.
In Surrey, the average journey from Reigate and Banstead into the ‘city centre’ was found to take 64.5 minutes by public transport and 29.56 minutes by car.
In Harrogate, North Yorkshire, the average figures were 36.2 minutes and 17.88 minutes.
Rail services meanwhile are at their least reliable for 17 years.
The Office of Rail and Road said 4.6 per cent of trains were cancelled or significantly late in the final three months of last year.
The regulator deems a service significantly late if it is delayed by between half an hour and two hours. One in seven services were at least five minutes late.
A DfT spokesman said: ‘ This Government is committed to delivering fast and reliable journeys in our cities, which is why we’re investing across all modes of public transport.
‘We are giving councils record amounts of capital funding – more than £7.1billion up to 2021, and investing £2.5billion through the Transforming Cities Fund – to deliver innovative public transport schemes developed to further tackle congestion in some of England’s biggest cities.’