The impact of public transport on the health of work commuters

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The future of commuting to work is a pressing social issue in light of the triple agendas of gender equality, climate change and country-level productivity. Increasingly, long crowded commutes to work by public transport incur a psychological toll in excess of the typical demands of the working day, and this is particularly recognised to impact women negatively. In addition, at an organizational level, there are growing concerns about costs to productivity and wellbeing. In parallel, the growing carbon footprint arising from commuting by car leads to high risk air quality and congested roads in urban areas. Yet if organisational leaders and cultures were more open to embracing flexible working –particularly remote working and co-working - a positive ripple effect will occur for gender equality, climate change and organisational productivity. With less commuting by public transport and car, and a higher proportion of active commuting modes (e.g. walking and cycling - like in schemes Manchester, UK), collectively the benefits will be enhanced individual and organisational wellbeing, productivity and inclusion as well as reducing the carbon footprint.

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