This is where Crawley ranks in the UK's best and worst places for commuting

New research from Uswitch.com has named Crawley as the sixth worst place in the UK for commuting.
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The research analysed local authorities in the UK, as well as a range of countries around the world, looking into various factors including average commute time and the cost of getting to work, as well as green factors including the number of electric vehicles and charging points on the roads, to reveal the best and worst UK regions for commuting.

Stafford, in the West Midlands, holds the title of the worst place to commute. While it scored okay in terms of commute cost and times, it was the green factors where the town lagged behind, with low numbers of both electric vehicles and chargers, as well as having high emissions per capita of 6.6 tCO2.

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As one of the busiest cities, not just in the UK, but in the whole world, it’s probably no surprise to anyone who’s been on the Tube at rush hour that London makes the top three worst places to commute.

New research from Uswitch.com has named Crawley as the sixth worst place in the UK for commuting. Picture by Gareth Fuller/PA WireNew research from Uswitch.com has named Crawley as the sixth worst place in the UK for commuting. Picture by Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
New research from Uswitch.com has named Crawley as the sixth worst place in the UK for commuting. Picture by Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The capital wasn’t just the most expensive city when it comes to public transport, with a travel pass costing an average of £162, but it’s also the city with the longest average commute, with Londoners spending an average of 36.3 minutes getting into work.

In Crawley, figures show it costs on average £71.38 a month for a transport pass; the median time it takes to commute is 25.2 minutes; and 5.1 tCO2 emissions per capita are emitted while commuting.

The worst 10 regions in the UK for commuting were: Stafford; London; Doncaster; Hartlepool; Barnsley; Crawley; Chelmsford; Wrexham; Stoke-on-Trent; and Newport.

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In comparison, Milton Keynes takes the top spot as the best UK city for commuting. Milton Keynes scored highly on almost all of the factors that we looked at and had the highest number of electric vehicle charging stations (134.7 per 100,000 people).

This means, it’s well set up for a greener commute in the years to come, and also had a short average commute of just 14.1 minutes.

Overall, the United Kingdom came out as the second-worst country for commuters, following Ireland in first place, scoring poorly across the board, with cost, average commute time and eco-friendliness all requiring some improvement.

Florence Codjoe, car insurance expert comments: “After nearly two years of lockdowns and working from home, the world is finally beginning to open up again, which means across the globe many of us are heading back into the office and having to deal with the stress of the daily commute.

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"It’s interesting to see our research reveals Ireland and the United Kingdom are the two worst countries in the world for commuting.

"Ireland comes out as the worst, notably having the highest public transport pass cost, followed closely by the UK which scores poorly across the board - from high transport costs to a long average commute time.

"Turkey came out as the best country for commuting largely due to the affordability of commuting and for scoring highly on the green factors which we looked at.

"It will be interesting to see if the daily commute improves over the coming years, with more countries adopting a hybrid way of working, which in return should hopefully see the average commute time decrease in countries across the world."

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