With its ridiculously loud Tube lines, crammed train carriages, and eye-watering travel costs, it’s only natural to assume London might be the worst commuter city in the UK.
But this simply isn’t the case.
Another spot has scooped the top spot in recent rankings by Capital on Tap, which analysed 30 of the most populated cities across the UK to reveal the best and worst.
With the highest average commute time as well as most days spent travelling to work, Edinburgh topped the list as the worst in the UK.
In total, people spend on average 11.52 hours per week commuting in Edinburgh and around 75 days per year. However, the average cost of a monthly travel pass was less than other locations in the rankings, at £59.93.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, London came in second place, where the cost of a monthly travel pass was more than triple Edinburgh’s total – at a staggering £182.28.
According to the data, the average Londoner spends roughly 51 days commuting per year and around 7.83 hours per week.
Taking third position is Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, where £60 is forked out on a monthly travel pass, 7.3 hours per week are spent commuting, and around 47 days per year.
The West Midlands on the whole dominates the top five rankings – with Coventry and Stoke-on-Trent rounding off the list at fourth and fifth, respectively.
Both tied in terms of hours spent commuting (7.3) as well as days per year (47) – but while Stoke-on-Trent’s monthly cost was nearly £15 higher, Coventry ranks higher in the happiness index.
The worst commuter cities in the UK revealed
- Edinburgh – £59.93 (monthly cost), 11.52 (hours per week), 75 (days per year)
- London – £182.28 (monthly cost), 7.83 (hours per week), 51 (days per year)
- Wolverhampton – £60 (monthly cost), 7.3 (hours per week), 47 (days per year)
- Coventry – £49.16 (monthly cost), 7.3 (hours per week), 47 (days per year)
- Stoke-on-Trent – £65 (monthly cost), 7.3 (hours per week), 47 (days per year).
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The research also revealed the best with Belfast taking the top spot with just 4 days spent commuting per year, followed by Sunderland at 33 days.
Leeds, Kingston-Upon-Hull and Sheffield made up the rest of the ‘best commuter city’ rankings.
However, the UK’s cheapest commuter town to live in, Peterborough, didn’t make an appearance.
Where are the UK’s cheapest London commuter towns?
- Peterborough, Cambridgeshire = £250,492
- Purfleet-On-Thames, Essex = £253,952
- Wellingborough, Northamptonshire = £248,050
- Northampton, Northamptonshire = £280,848
- Pitsea, Essex = £297,494
- Rugby, Warwickshire = £290,335
- Chatham, Kent = £302,301
- Bletchley, Buckinghamshire = £332,696
- Colchester, Essex = £321,023
- Luton, Bedfordshire = £318,612
All are average house prices, based on the HM Land Registry, October 2023.
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