UK workers will spend a year and a half of their lives commuting
Workers in the UK will spend a year and 212 days (that's about seven months) on their daily commute, a new study has found.
According to the research, from Japanese technology manufacturer Toshiba, Britons spend 13,871 hours of their lives commuting to and from worth – you could get 1,734 decent nights' kip in that time. Or fly around the world 295 times. Or, er, watch 13,871 episodes of Game of Thrones – if that's your kind of thing.
The research suggested just over half of commuters use their car, while 25 per cent take the bus and 19 per cent use trains (understandably, given last week's five-hour Clapham Junction nightmare).
After that, the study begins to get a bit weird: apparently one in 10 commuters want to "ditch travelcards and contactless payment in favour of Minority Report-style personal profile recognition". Alright. And just as outlandishly futuristic was the suggestion, by 42 per cent of commuters, that free wifi on all public transport might be nice…
Still, Toshiba did point out that by 2020, self-driving cars will be available – so commuters can use that time to be productive (so long as they don't get car sick), while by 2035, we'll all have virtual reality, with "direct links into the brain enabling all five senses to be used in VR" – rendering that bus journey rather less unpleasant. We can but hope…