Most of us hate our morning commute, and often with good reason. The average Brit spends 54 minutes commuting to and from work each day. This is above the world average of around 40 minutes. Over the course of a lifetime, this adds up to around a year-and-a-half. If we’re going to spend so much time shuffling back and forth from the office, we should at least consider some new ways to make it more interesting.
The Most Practical Solution
According to the most recent census, 81.5% of people living in England and Wales live in urban areas. The most energy efficient solution would be to use public transport, like trains, trams, or buses. However, since many of us don’t want to rely on potentially erratic schedules, we end up purchasing a vehicle of our own anyway. City cars, or superminis, are often the most practical for this kind of environment. Cars like these, when owned by city dwellers, are also less likely to have substantial miles on the clock. This means they’re more likely to hold their value on used marketplaces like those found here when it comes time to sell.
Unusual Ways to Commute
Of course, practicality isn’t always our number one priority. Sometimes we’ll go out of our way to try new things. This might be to improve our health, or even just because it seems more fun. Portland, Oregon, has a big cycling community, with an estimated 2.3 million commuters getting to work each day via their bike. For local resident Cyril Burguiere, though, this simply wasn’t interesting enough so he instead opted to paddleboard to work. In an eye-opening interview from 2012, Burguiere explained that he paddleboards 2.5 miles to and from work along the Willamette River daily, whatever the weather may be.
Adopting Modern Technology
Finally, with the advent of new technologies happening all the time, we’re constantly reevaluating the most efficient ways we can do things. In the transportation sector, no company has been more influential than Uber. It’s spawned a host of similar services, from local competitor Lyft to Didi in China and Hailo in the UK. If the company’s growth continues, expect fewer and fewer people, especially those living in urbanised cities, to feel the need to purchase their own car. The vehicles that are transporting them may not even have a driver either, with companies like Google leading the way in truly autonomous cars.