Small business commute times drop

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) have released a report that suggests the growing trend of small businesses and sole traders working from home has cut average commute times to the lowest point in almost a decade.

The TUC analysis shows that average commute times have now been cut to as much as 47 minutes per day, compared to a record high of almost 53 minutes back in 2006.

Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary, commented:

"After years of increasing journey times, it's great to see that the number of hours spent commuting to work is finally falling. UK employees already work some of the longest hours in Europe so it's doubly annoying to lose even more precious spare time stuck in traffic."

The organisation have suggested that this is largely down to the increasing numbers of people working from home. Their figures actually show that the number of people working from home between 2006 - 2008 increased by a whopping 291,000 people. This accounts for over 50% of employment growth during this period.

In spite of this the TUC also believe that other factors such as better traffic management by the Government and local councils, coupled with flexible working introduced by small businesses and their larger counterparts have helped to drive travelling times down.

11/11/10