Survey on commuting by car

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Mon 15 Dec 2014 11:51
Survey on commuting by car - drivingresearch

We are an user research team and have put together a survey to find out about your experiences as a car commuter. This, in turn, will help us to discover and design products and services that could make your commuting experience more pleasurable or productive.

And we want to give something back to you for taking part! If you complete our survey you automatically enter a free draw with a £100 / $150 / €120 voucher to spend on Amazon.

http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/138560LCNUC

Thanks for taking part.

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Mon 15 Dec 2014 12:51
Survey on commuting by car - alan1302

Only thing that would make it better wudl be clearer roads with less snarl ups.

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Mon 15 Dec 2014 22:02
Survey on commuting by car - dan86

Make public transport better. I live in London and my commute is only 10 miles but I would have to catch 3 buses and would take over a hour. My journey by car take 20 minutes. It may cost me more but I get more time at home witch is worth more to me than the extra cost.

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Tue 16 Dec 2014 00:16
Survey on commuting by car - Ethan Edwards

You'd be surprised Dan. There's several people who actually don't live in London. Surprising I know. Occasionally one or two actually commute to somewhere other than London. Can you believe it? I hear tell of fables and myths of other cities and towns villages etc. Crazy I know as we all know Once you get past the M25 there be dragons and the edge of the world right? Some of these almost fictional people couldnt care less about public transport cept when it impedes their vehicular progress.

Nah just joshing with yah!

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Tue 16 Dec 2014 10:01
Survey on commuting by car - dan86

I've not got a problem with public transport it's just if they want me to use it it should be more convenient. I know places outside of London it public transport can be bad but there are plenty of buses that service my local area but it seems that to get to where I work I have to change 2 or 3 times and take up to 3 times as long. I worked out the savings and it would be £25 a week less to go by bus but I'd rather spend that time with my family.

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Tue 16 Dec 2014 20:59
Survey on commuting by car - daveyjp
WE are congestion. The solution is with US.

I no longer commute by car as I was tired of burning £5 notes going nowhere.
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Tue 16 Dec 2014 21:39
Survey on commuting by car - alan1302
WE are congestion. The solution is with US. I no longer commute by car as I was tired of burning £5 notes going nowhere.

I'm always happy when somone stops comuting as it's extra space for me! LOL :-)

Seriously though it can vary a lot depensing on where you live and where you work as to wether or not you can giv up the car or not for commuting.

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Wed 17 Dec 2014 10:40
Survey on commuting by car - skidpan

Back in the late 80's/early 90's my commute was 36 miles using the A38, M1 and good A roads. Used to take me 45 minutes, very few hold ups, average speed 48 mph.

Now my commute is 15 miles using the A38, M1 and good A roads. Takes me 30 minutes on a decent day but there are regular hold ups that can almost double the journey time. On a good day my average speed is only 30 mph.

So how long would it take me to get to my 1980's office now, I would guess at least 1 hour 15 minutes, maybe more (regardess of the fact they have now built the M42 which should in theory make life easier).

Edited by skidpan on 17/12/2014 at 10:42

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Wed 17 Dec 2014 11:43
Survey on commuting by car - RobJP

To the people running the survey (though I doubt they'll ever read this, they only wanted to post up their survey)

Running a prize is all well and good, but (amazingly, I know) some people will actually fill out a survey for free. Insisting on their email address, so that they can fill in the survey, which could be used in the future for spam purposes, puts those people off.

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Wed 17 Dec 2014 13:23
Survey on commuting by car - Engineer Andy

To the people running the survey (though I doubt they'll ever read this, they only wanted to post up their survey)

Running a prize is all well and good, but (amazingly, I know) some people will actually fill out a survey for free. Insisting on their email address, so that they can fill in the survey, which could be used in the future for spam purposes, puts those people off.

Quite right. Occasionally I go in for online competitions (I'm not a 'comper' though), and always make sure its a legit website for a know company, and that entrants have the opportunity of (preferably) being automatically opted out of all marketing communications (or at least being able to opt out during the entry process as opposed to emailing the firm afterwards - a definite 'No' for entering on such sites).

I too realise that the money for such prizes has to come from somewhere, and occasionally I do enter competitions/complete surveys that do have a stipulation for having marketing emails (only - no post/phonecalls [the worst type]), but ONLY for the very most reputable firms who don't sell on data and it for products I might actually buy from time to time.

Whilst the survey's statement about only using our email address if we win the prize draw looks OK, it doesn't say if they will pass or sell on those details to other firms, who COULD do so (especially if sold to a US firm). A better statement would also include (if correct) that they would not do this as well and would delete all personal details (including contact details) following the winner receiving/using the prize. That and that they have a US office put me off entering the competition.

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Wed 17 Dec 2014 13:47
Survey on commuting by car - Engineer Andy

I suspect many of us (myself included - I live on the border of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire and work in central London) commute much further distances that our forbears, and together with the large increase in population in the UK (especially in the South East of England, who often work in London/other large towns/cities and live elsewhere due to the high cost of housing), more of us than ever commute.

What I wonder is how often do the bus routes (especially in large conurbations like London) actually get reviewed for usefulness - presumably be getting users, local residents and workers along routes (or generally) to fill in questionaires, or (at least in London's case) reviewing journey data from Oyster card use. I doubt if the 10 year censuses are of much use, given that people change jobs and home more often than in the past (and can be reliably captured on census data).

I find that bus routes tend to be more aligned to the 'traditional' journeys (often out-of-date) for workplaces and high street shopping, much of which has completely changed over the years. These also don't cover journeys made whilst on 'work time', and I find especially that its often just as quick to walk (even up to 30 mins) than to use buses, train or tube, particularly in the rush hour, unless you are going to a destination a long way away or next to a bus stop/train or tube station and the roads/trains aren't pack full and slow.

Some roads, like London's Oxford Street, Euston Road etc (I'm sure there are many elsewhere - quite a few are like this in Cambridge near to where I live as well) are often jam packed full of buses crawling along, getting in the way of each other (plus taxis and other vehicles doing the same). Most of the time you may as well walk unless its out of the rush 'hour' (not very much is nowadays, mostly after 8pm) and put up with the inevitable pollution at road level (this also saves me £1000+ pa on zone 1 travel to/from work).

No intergrated transport policy as far as I can see - too disjointed with political fingers in pies at work hindering something useful being put together. Some much also for modern technology (working from home, video conferencing etc) helping to reduce the number of journeys.

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