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On the costs of rural commuting
by Roger Harrabin
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In recent months ministers have been accused of being metropolitan-minded and out of touch with countryside problems - particularly over the cost of commuting by car in rural areas. But new research commissioned by this programme suggests that there may have been a degree of
myth-making by the rural lobby. The figures show that in fact it's urban drivers who pay more for their motoring, with drivers in the London metropolis facing by far the highest costs.
This consolidates previous research on this programme a few months ago which showed that people in the North East and South West were much better off than people in London even though they earned much less, because costs of living are so much lower.
This is a tale of two commuters - one in the town and one in the country. The urban driver is Colin Lingfield. He lives in a council flat in the London borough of Islington not far from where Tony Blair used to live. Every day he drives his Escort almost 13 miles to work in Wimbledon. At 6am
it takes about 40 minutes. But the journey home across London is rather more challenging. "To get home takes one to one and a half hours. It's total chaos and very stressful."
Laurie Brown is the rural commuter. He's town clerk at Chippenham. He drives just slightly farther than Colin Lingfield - but his BMW transports him home through the Wiltshire countryside.
"I get to the car at around five and sit in traffic on the way to Bradford Upon Avon. It takes 30-40 minutes."
That's a big difference in quality of life and travelling time. But in the light of the debate over rural travel costs we want to compare the real cash burden on rural and urban drivers. Calculations done for us by the Centre for Economics and Business Research show that one saving to rural drivers actually derives from the speed of the journey itself.
Douglas MacWilliams is director of CEBR. "The average rural commuter drives twice as far - but the Londoner is stuck in a traffic jam - so his car is less efficient."
This may come as a shock to rural commuters who have complained that the government is metropolitan biased and out of touch with rural costs. In fact the research by CEBR shows that on average most country commuters pay a lot less for their motoring when all costs are taken into account.
Take parking: Here's the price in Chippenham. £200 a year season ticket.
In Wimbledon Colin Lingfield pays six times as much to park at work. And then some more to park at home. £250 a year on street parking.
If he lived in a private house the on-street parking fees locally would be more than £80 a year.
Then there's vehicle insurance.
Car worth £400-£500 … insurance £600.
So the insurance costs more than the car is worth. Very different for the rural BMW driver.
So less than half the cost for a better insurance on a newer and much more expensive car. The research by CEBR shows that figures like these tot up a massive advantage to the rural commuter. The figures suggest that London commuters pay getting on for twice as much for their journey to work as
commuters in the south west or north east, even though they drive on average half as far. Drivers in Birmingham are worse off than rural commuters too, though not by nearly as much.
The big perceived advantage to urban commuters is their opportunity to use public transport. But it's not an option Colin Lingfield would choose. "It's too crowded, both buses and trains".
Laurie Brown in Chippenham couldn't use public transport either - but then he doesn't need to. As town clerk, does he think rural commuters realise how lucky they are by comparison with their city cousins? "Rural commuters feel hard-done by, but my travelling costs are less and my quality of life is more."
And that's exactly what the CEBR figures bear out.
Read reports on:
Road building in rural areas
The Government's transport programme
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| Daily Costs of commuting in £ |
London |
South West |
North East |
Birmingham |
| Depreciation |
4.17 |
4.17 |
4.17 |
4.17 |
| Maintenance |
0.85 |
0.77 |
0.68 |
0.69 |
| Tax |
0.42 |
0.42 |
0.42 |
0.42 |
| Insurance |
3.20 |
1.87 |
1.99 |
1.99 |
| Fuel |
1.80 |
1.76 |
1.70 |
1.71 |
| Parking |
10.64 |
3.19 |
3.19 |
4.26 |
| Total |
21.08 |
12.19 |
12.16 |
13.24 |
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| Misc. Data
| London |
South West |
North East |
Birmingham |
| Fuel
prices p/ltr |
80.6 |
87.2 |
80.3 |
80.7 |
| Time
taken minutes |
41.00 |
19.00 |
18.00 |
18.00 |
| Distance miles |
5.10 |
9.10 |
9.10 |
7.84 |
| Speed |
9.10 |
28.74 |
24.90 |
18.10 |
| MPG |
19.29 |
37.36 |
35.71 |
30.78 |
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