Commute to Work Gets Longer Over Two Decades, Says Study

BENGALURU: The average time required for city residents for one-way travel to their workplaces has increased significantly in the past two decades. According to a study report, the average time required to travel to one’s workplace was 25 minutes in 1991, and 40 minutes in 2001, but has increased to 42 minutes in 2015, thanks to the increasing number of vehicles in the city.

The findings are based on a pilot study by the Centre for Research in Urban Affairs, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru. The study was based on a sample size of 200 and was the initiative of Dr Kala S Sridhar, Manasi S and K C Smitha from the institute. The study was conducted only in Nagarabhavi ward in the city. Dr Kala said they selected Nagarabhavi because it has both urban and rural areas.

According to the study, the time one spends to commute to work depends on his or her income level.

A person with higher salary spends more time on the road, than a person with relatively lower level of income. However, the hypothesis holds true only if a person commutes about 40 km to his workplace.

The study shows that for up to four km to work, the mean income is fairly low; beyond four till 40 km, the mean monthly income keeps increasing, after which the income-level falls off. According to the researchers, this is because some low wage earners have to commute more than 40 km as their income do not permit them to reside close to to their workplace.

Study: The study also concentrated on the state of basic services in the city, status of urban health, educational preferences, living conditions and policy implications.

The findings of the study recommend the need to improve mobility inside the city, improve facilities in government hospitals and environment conservation. Dr Kala said there were plans to conduct a similar survey in all the wards of the city in the future.

Other findings

40 per cent of the general households own cars, while only seven per cent go for car pooling

Average consumption of water is 83 litres per capita daily in general households and 59 litres per capita in slums National standard is 135 l per capita daily

92.5 per cent of the people surveyed were satisfied with the living conditions of the city

A majority of the persons surveyed (46 per cent) perceived that safety in the city is not satisfactory.