For many people, commuting involves a combination of transport methods — from cars, bikes and buses to subways and trains. The average daily commute for a typical professional in the West can range from 39 to a considerable 97 minutes, but even the shortest commute can become a hassle when constantly hopping from one mode of transport to another.
A lucky few might have the opportunity to work from home and avoid the hassle of daily commuting, but what if this option isn’t available? For the vast majority of us, commuting is more of an inconvenience than a pleasurable experience, that we simply have to suffer in silence and put up with in order to get on with our day.
If you are a typical urban professional, you will probably have to deal with several or all of the following troubles in your daily commute:
- Crowds
Does anyone enjoy being squashed like a sardine against strangers? No one? Platforms can get busy when boarding the train or bus, but not getting a seat is almost guaranteed during rush hour, obliging you to stand acrobatically holding on to the overhead rail. If you have a long journey to make, this can quickly get rather uncomfortable.
Even in Japan, where they have some of the shortest average commutes in the world and incredibly efficient rail systems, oshiyas (translated literally to ‘pushers’) are hired to pack people onto rammed trains during peak hours, often overloading them to 200% of their capacity.
- Snail-slow traffic
Driving a car or taking the bus instead of the train or subway also present their own problem: road congestion. Stuck in traffic, cars move at an average speed of less than 10 mph in most inner-city areas across the world.
There have been some colossal traffic jams in the past, including the 62-mile backup on the Beijing-Tibet expressway that lasted twelve days in 2010, and the twelve hour traffic jam in Chicago Illinois that occurred during a blizzard in 2011 — talk about a recipe for commuter misery!
- Unreliable transport
If crowds and traffic weren’t bad enough, what about when your transport is delayed — or worse still, fails to arrive? Reasons for delays range from customer trespassing and weather, to engineering works and transportation strikes.
If you live in a city like London, journey delays may well be a part of your everyday life. But they can really take their toll on your nerves when they regularly disrupt your day and create travel uncertainty — take the South Western railway strike as an example, the longest nearly-continuous rail strike in British history, which caused widespread chaos for UK commuters over Christmas in 2019.
- Expensive rides
Public transport and ride-hailing may seem cheap for individual trips, but their costs really add up over time. Even if you are driving your own car, you can’t escape the initial cost of the vehicle, the regular petrol refills, and the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) and congestion charges in many cities.
Due to the explosion of micromobility, commutes no longer have to be excruciating and costly. The electric scooter has become an alternative transportation option within the reach of most people that can transform your commute by being:
Faster
Cities are only getting bigger and more crowded, and so are the roads and public transport systems within them. Electric scooters enable you to significantly cut commuting time thanks to their small and compact form, allowing you to whiz past traffic and easily maneuver around pedestrians. This is a great advantage they have over larger vehicles, which are condemned to follow the pace of all other road vehicles and stay stuck in traffic jams.
In some cities, you are not just limited to travelling on the road, but you can also make use of cycle lanes, which are usually freer and safer.
If completing your entire journey by scooter is not feasible and you still need to use public transport, then personal e-scooters are also compatible with other forms of transport as they are designed with portability in mind — being both foldable and lightweight enough to be carried. This will no doubt get you there quicker than walking or using public transport alone.
Less hassle
Electric scooters can help you scoot your way to a more convenient commute, especially if you own one (if you want to learn more about the benefits of a personal e-scooter, check out our blog post Is It Better To Rent Or To Own An Electric Scooter?).
Bikes are great for free exercise, but what if you don’t want to put in the effort of pedalling? Electric scooters enable you to travel long distances and climb hills with no sweat.
However, just like with bikes, you have the possibility of trialling alternative routes — a freedom that is not possible with public transport and is not only handy in the face of unforeseen road closures and congestion, but is also an excellent way of exploring your city and refreshing your daily commute route.
There is no need to wait for the arrival of a taxi, bus, or train, because your e-scooter will be readily available whenever you need it.
Gone are also the days of wasting time circling in search of your Uber or a parking space, as you can fold your scooter and take it up to the office or store it at home, even if you only have a box room. Their portability allows you to take them on public transport if needed, but if you don’t, the single person scooter means you no longer have to share your space with others or get squashed next to a stranger.
Greener
The only emissions produced by personal e-scooters are produced during their manufacturing and production — and as they are electric, they don’t emit pollutants during usage, minimising your carbon footprint. This is impossible with petrol-powered cars and taxis, which are much heavier and take more energy to move (thus emitting larger amounts of CO₂ and other contaminating substances).
Knowing that you are doing more to protect the environment is enough to make anyone feel good, and now that our planet is facing unprecedented environmental pressure due to climate change, being mindful about the type of transportation you use in your daily life is as good a way as any to contribute to protect it.
Cheaper
As mentioned earlier, e-scooters are electricity-powered, so they don’t involve the recurring expense of petrol, which can amount to a hefty sum over time as it does with cars.
When in regular use, electric scooters neatly pay for themselves, becoming much cheaper per mile than cars, taxis, or public transport. To put this into perspective, an e-scooter costs less than 25¢ per 100 miles ridden. How does that compare to your transport fares and petrol costs?
And if you are still in doubt as to how much money e-scooters could save you, their portability also means there is no longer any need to pay for parking, resulting in considerable savings for the average user overall.
Conclusion
As cities continue to expand and populations grow, commuting will only get worse in urban areas. It is a given that we can expect more overcrowding, ever higher travel expenses, and overall longer and more miserable commutes. But all of this can be somewhat alleviated or even avoided altogether by tapping into the recent electric scooter trend which has taken the Western world by storm.
Scooting guarantees benefits to all users, cities, and our planet, including being a faster, greener, cheaper, and more reliable way of getting around in urban areas. And who couldn’t help but smile on their way to work in the knowledge that they are cutting costs, helping the environment and shaving time off their daily commute while arriving at work stress and sweat-free?
References
- Athena Lamb, Dalia Research, The Countries With the Longest and Shortest Commutes
- Bill Gardner, The Telegraph Online, Longest train strike in British history ‘will cause Christmas misery for millions’
- Kaushik Patowary, Amusing Planet, Subway Pushers of Japan
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