Driving to work causes stress, congestion, and pollution. Yet, for over 100 years, it’s been the favoured way of travelling for commuters worldwide.

Breaking the habit of getting in the car every morning has proven challenging for most — despite the harmful impact driving has on health, personal finances, and the environment.

While commuters have become car-dependent, it hasn’t always been this way. And looking back to a time before cars can give employees the motivation to change their habits.

But a successful, long-lasting positive transformation of commuting habits takes real leadership. Giving your team the tools to make their commutes healthier, more affordable, and better for the environment can help switch their habits.

Current commuting habits are a problem

Daily commutes are responsible for 25% of Europe’s carbon emissions — with private and company cars being a leading cause.

The average car in the European Union emits 120.4 grams of CO2 per kilometre. Advancements in technology should mean those emissions come down — and this was true between 2010 and 2016 — but the average tailpipe emissions of new vehicles increased in 2017 and again in 2018.

There are now 1.446 billion cars worldwide, most of which pollute the air. Even if the environment isn’t your primary concern, there are many more problems that come with commuting by car:

Congestion;
Road accidents;
Fuel, maintenance, and insurance costs.

On top of these, driving can lead to an increased heart rate, higher blood pressure, and anxiety — all of which take their toll on workers. And those who choose to drive to work have more sick days.

With this in mind, driving remains the favoured way of commuting between home and office. But the numbers show why it might not be the best idea.

Workers who drive to and from the office spend not only hours but days waiting in traffic — time that could be better spent focussing on work tasks, learning, or preparing for the day ahead.

How commuters ended up behind the wheel

Before commuting became a universal daily habit, there was a time when nobody needed to travel for work.

This changed during Roman times when commuting started on foot. At this point, cities were roughly a mile in diameter, making it possible to walk from one side to the other in around 30 minutes — not much longer than the current average European commute time of 25 minutes.

There was little change from a commuting perspective until 1662, when the first fixed-route buses arrived — introduced in Paris by Blaise Pascal. These horse-drawn carriages could first carry up to 8 people, but they were no faster than travelling by foot.

At this time, city populations were growing, and as they became overcrowded, the desire to live in them decreased. This prompted wealthier residents to move outside the city and commute by horse-drawn carriage. However, this wasn’t the most comfortable way of travelling to work — especially for long-distance commuters.

It was during the 19th century that those commuters found a better route into the city: steam-powered railways.

The first public railway opened in 1836 in the UK and ran between Liverpool and Manchester. This gave commuters a route into the city at speeds of over 20 miles per hour. But tickets were expensive — only accessible to the wealthiest members of society.

Within cities, horse-drawn carts were taking their toll — manure was piling up in the streets and proving hazardous. This meant that inter-city travel needed to change. The first underground metro system (the London Underground) opened in 1863 but was cautiously greeted by investors — it wasn’t until early in the 20th century that commuting by metro became popular.

In the meantime, commuters were turning to the bicycle.

Bicycles gave commuters a faster mode of transport than walking and horse-drawn carriage. And cities started increasing in size as the land further out became more desirable.

By this point, several attempts were made to bring cars to market. But without a smooth road network, they didn’t appeal to commuters.

Roads were built for pedestrians

Towards the end of the 19th century, bicycles were the favoured mode of transport. And those cycling to work across Europe and America campaigned for paved streets.

Campaigns proved successful, but as funding for paved roads increased, the appetite for cycling went down as these new roads helped automobiles find their audience.

By the 1920s, cars were more affordable, and cyclists put their bikes away in favour of cars. But this came at a cost.

From privilege to problem

Introducing cars to city streets led to road traffic accidents. People were used to walking or cycling freely but now had to watch out for “violent intruders” on the streets.

In the US, citizens were taking action by campaigning for all vehicles to be fitted with speed limiters. But they were up against powerful car manufacturers who fought back by giving more rights to cars than people on the streets by introducing the crime of jaywalking.

While jaywalking isn’t a crime in every country, the time of crossing the street on foot without a concern was over. And power on the streets shifted from people to cars.

Congestion on a city street

The era of car-dependent commuting

Cars rose to prominence by promising a fast, convenient, and safe way to get around. But their novelty soon turned into dependence.

Once cars earned their place as part of the daily commute, manufacturing sped up — 100 years later, 50% of European commuters depend on them. And they’re not just for longer commutes as 60% of journeys under 2 miles are taken by car.

As dependence on cars grew, many cities were designed for cars rather than people. Take Paris, for example: 27% of the French capital is dedicated to transport, and cars benefit from 57% of that space.

This puts anyone looking for alternative commuting options at a disadvantage. And car dependency shows little sign of slowing down.

Despite a significant drop in sales during the pandemic, car sales are recovering well, with around 80 million manufactured in 2021.

Chart showing the worldwide production of cars by year

As more environmentally-friendly commuting options are explored, cars are still the world’s favoured method of transport. Electric vehicles will help to bring down emissions but won’t solve the problems of car dependence, congestion, and traffic accidents.

“Across the world, we have high levels of local air pollution in cities, high levels of carbon pollution leading to greenhouse gas effects, and high levels of congestion. The continued growth of automobile usage is not sustainable.”
Charles Fine author of Faster

Before the car became synonymous with commuting, walking, cycling, and public transport were all preferred modes of transportation. But now that most commuters are in the habit of driving for work — whether by private or company car — breaking that habit has proven challenging.

Even a pandemic couldn’t end car-dependency

The longer a habit is maintained, the harder it is to break — and commuters driving to work is a 100-year-old habit.

When the global pandemic hit, few commuters drove to the office. And many people saw the benefits:

More time;
Saved money;
Improved wellbeing.

Yet, even these benefits couldn’t break habits for good. Once restrictions eased, the car called workers back. After a dip in sales in 2020, car sales climbed in 2021.

Chart showing global vehicle sales between 2019 and 2021

Why breaking commuting habits is a challenge

40% of our daily actions are habits — actions we do without thinking. Doing these regular habits increases dopamine levels in the brain — the reason why bad habits are hard to break.

In the morning, when it’s time to travel to work, many commuters jump in the car without a second thought. Doing this daily builds strong neural pathways in the brain — the stronger these pathways are, the harder they are to break.

But informing commuters about the negatives of driving isn’t enough to change their habits. Instead, people want immediate results.

If you were to walk to work rather than drive, you wouldn’t notice an immediate improvement in your health — this builds up over time. And without that instant gratification, driving to work the next day is easier.

Several behavioural biases get in the way of breaking old habits and forming new ones. Being aware of these biases can make it easier to leave the car at home the next time you travel for work.

Loss aversion bias

We focus on potential losses rather than possible gains when we consider change.

Your current commuting habits act as a reference point. As a driver, you’re happy with your daily routine of driving to work. If you were to start walking to work, you’d focus on potential downsides — more time spent commuting, perhaps.

As the benefits (saving money and getting healthier) are more long-term, they don’t carry as much weight — which is why most people are happy for things to stay the way they are.

“The fear of losing, trumps the joy of winning in most situations, and this imbalance frequently causes people to make poor choices.”
Douglas Goldstein author of Rich as a King.

Confirmation bias

To back up any loss aversion bias, we tend to favour information that supports our existing beliefs.

Confirmation bias is natural to us all and a challenge to overcome. To do so, it’s important to open yourself up to different points of view and be willing to change your mind in light of new information.

For example, as a driver stuck in traffic, you may wish there were more lanes. After all, in theory, this would open up more space to allow traffic to move more freely. However, more lanes create induced demand. In other words, building more roads leads to more traffic.

In The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion, Giles Duranton and Miles Turner found a “one-to-one relationship” between new roads and congestion. Their findings show that if road capacity is increased by 10%, driving will increase by the same percentage.

There’s also a belief that more cycle lanes increase car traffic, but research has disproved this too.

After adding a cycle lane to a road, traffic will likely go up in the short term. However, studies show that drivers soon turn to other forms of transport, leading to traffic evaporation. In the end, traffic levels remain the same — or even go down.

Societal dependence

Many cities are better suited to cars than people, which makes it hard to break free from them. You can see this societal dependence in most cities:

Multi-lane roads;
Large car parks;
Limited safe walking and cycling routes.

Shifting commuting habits means changing social norms. If everyone in the office commits to leaving their private car at home for the commute, it becomes easier for each individual to transform their commute.

Tips for improving commuting habits

The more you do something, the stronger the neural pathways become in your brain. That’s why current habits (even the bad ones) feel natural and are hard to break.

You can form new neural pathways, but it takes time. The longer you stick with a new habit, the more natural it becomes — and that’s why it’s crucial to maintain new habits.

If you’re looking to transform your commute, or the commutes of your team, follow the advice below.

Create a plan

Deciding when to travel using an alternative to the car is an important part of building a habit as it holds you accountable.

Decide which day of the week you’ll commute without your car and stick with it. Over time, you could build up from a single day to multiple days.

Stack new habits on top of old ones

Everyone has daily habits. Building new, more positive habits can be achieved by adding your desired habits on top of old ones.

When it comes to commuting, this could mean driving to work as usual, but parking further away from the office — then walking, cycling, or taking public transport the rest of the way. By parking further away from the office each time, you could soon find you’re commuting without the car altogether.

Have a long-term mindset

Active travel won’t change your life after a single commute — the biggest benefits are more long-term (feeling healthier and saving money). This is why it’s easy to dismiss walking or cycling to work.

However, if you maintain that long-term mindset — perhaps working out how much you save on fuel and parking each month — your new commuting habits will be easier to continue.

Change your environment

The easiest time to change habits is during a significant change in your life: starting a new job or moving home, for example. But that doesn’t mean you should wait until starting a new job to change your commute.

Instead, changing your environment could mean hiding the car keys or making a sustainable travel app more visible on your phone. These subtle changes could end up having a significant impact.

Changing habits isn’t enough; cities must change too

Commuting patterns and city infrastructure go hand in hand. As long as the infrastructure of cities suits cars, people will drive. But city infrastructure is unlikely to change without public support. This creates a circle where little is done to tackle the problem of commuting by car.

While changing longtime personal habits is possible, giving commuters the tools to take alternative methods of transport encourages faster adoption.

How cities are supporting a change in commuting habits

During the pandemic, the number of pedestrianised areas and cycle lanes increased in cities worldwide. And this prompted a shift in travel habits.

A study of 106 European cities found that those new cycle lanes increased cycling by between 11% and 48% — proving that travel habits can be changed when the infrastructure improves.

Another proven way to encourage change is through taxes. Workplace parking taxes are being used in many cities to discourage employers from offering as many parking spaces. Employers providing 11 or more parking spaces must pay a tax for each space — or pass this tax onto employees.

In Nottingham, UK, the money raised from workplace parking taxes has been invested into public transport and cycle lanes. This has increased public transport use and cycling while reducing congestion and local pollution levels.

As a business, it’s essential to act now and give your team everything they need to commute without a personal or company car.

How businesses can shape the future of commuting

Many businesses offer their employees a company car or car allowance. For a long time, these have been seen as great employee benefits, but that doesn’t hide the fact that they contribute to congestion and local pollution levels.

Instead, employers should support employees to develop habits that support sustainability, productivity, and all-round wellbeing:

Encourage carpools;
Allow hybrid working;
Introduce active travel incentives;
Partner with sustainable mobility companies.

As the science behind changing habits has shown, it’s easier to continue a new habit when there are instant results. This is where partnering with a sustainable mobility company can help.

Get your team to work with Bolt Business

Shifting habits and making commuting safe for everyone takes leadership.

To inspire change amongst your team, they need the right tools at their disposal. And you can give your team a range of alternatives to private and company cars with Bolt Business.

By signing up with Bolt Business, your team has a range of mobility options available in the palm of their hand:

Getting picked up by an approved Bolt driver;
Riding an electric scooter or e-bike;
Switching to car-sharing over owning cars with Bolt Drive.

Company admins can manage all ground travel from a user-friendly dashboard and even arrange travel for employees or clients with Ride Booker.

Create your free Bolt Business account today to help transform your team’s commuting habits for the better.

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