Long story short, it\u2019s everything you need to know to put your own commute into perspective. So, let\u2019s dive right in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is commuting and why don\u2019t we like it?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
If you have ever searched for the meaning of the word commute<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> you might have seen something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo travel regularly to and from a place and especially between where you live and where you work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, this commuting definition covers the meaning of the word, as all the dictionary definitions do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But, the part that we can never find in a dictionary is all the stress and anxiety lurking behind this simple word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When there\u2019s piled up stress in the picture, it\u2019s easy to understand why we dislike commuting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, compared to all the rest of our daily activities, commuting causes the most stress<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from all the anxiety and tension, what we don\u2019t like about commuting is the fact that we do not have any control over it<\/a>. Whether you\u2019re sitting in your car or standing on a packed up bus, chances are that you won\u2019t be able to do more than wait if there\u2019s a queue of vehicles in front of you slowly crawling down the lane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The rest of the story is quite clear \u2014 the lack of control and unpredictability further increase our stress levels and we end up despising our daily commute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, despite all the frustration, the majority of people across the globe have to move around their cities to show up at work every morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People in different parts of the world opt for different means of travel \u2014 they include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, these are only some of the popular choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we take a closer look at the ways people from all over the world travel, it\u2019s easy to see that their choices vary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, Bangkok (1)<\/strong> is reported to have 8 times more cars<\/strong> than its existing roads can realistically accommodate, so traffic jams are quite common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A more pleasant alternative are boats<\/strong> \u2014 people who have to cross Bangkok\u2019s canals usually opt for this way of commuting to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bicycles<\/strong> and motorbikes<\/strong> are a famed means of commuting in Vietnam (2)<\/strong> \u2014 there are more registered motorbikes than there are households.<\/p>\n\n\n Ferries<\/em><\/strong> are a popular commuting option for Istanbul (3)<\/strong> workers \u2014 probably because some of them live in the European part of the city<\/em>, and have to cross the Bosporus strait to get to their workplaces in the Asian part of the city<\/em>, and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People from Johannesburg (4)<\/strong> in South Africa often commute with minibus taxis<\/em><\/strong>, who pick people up along the road \u2014 people have to learn specific hand gestures that signal the driver they want to board or get off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa (5)<\/strong> as a whole also has an unusual taxi-related phenomenon<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 Taxi wars between minibus<\/em> taxi drivers and regular<\/em> taxi drivers are common enough to have their own Wikipedia page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Amsterdam (6)<\/strong>, the cycling capital of the world with 881,000 registered bicycles<\/em><\/strong>, bicycle traffic jams are not an unusual sight.<\/p>\n\n\n If you commute every day, it\u2019s easy to believe you have it worse than your colleagues who instead have to endure just a short walk to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, some people around the world most likely have it much worse than you do (or at least much, much weirder<\/em>) \u2014 and here are their stories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In India (7)<\/strong>, 23 million passengers commute by train<\/em><\/strong> every day \u2014 some by hanging onto the side of the train, as there\u2019s usually no room for everyone on the actual<\/em> train.<\/p>\n\n\n In Tokyo (8)<\/strong> alone, 6.84 million passengers every day commute to work on overpacked trains<\/em><\/strong>, probably with no personal space at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s even a person called a Pusher<\/strong> (\u201crailway station attendant\u201d is the more elegant term), whose job is simply to push people onto trains before they\u2019re even able to close the doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trains, metros, and subways in New York<\/strong>, Beijing<\/strong> and Madrid (9)<\/strong> also employ this kind of personnel from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n Everyone\u2019s heard of Extreme sports and Extreme couponing \u2014 but fewer people have probably heard of Extreme commuting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably because it\u2019s not really something you\u2019d want to take part in.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Extreme commuters<\/em><\/strong> are people who travel more than 90 minutes in one way<\/strong> \u2014 and many of them have intriguing (and sometimes even brutal) commute schedules to share:<\/p>\n\n\n\n She wakes up at 2:15 a.m., changes 2 trains and a bus<\/em>, to get to her workplace at 7 a.m. in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She has an 80-mile (129 km) commute to work every day<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He may live in Barcelona \u2014 but he takes 2 trains and a cheap flight in order to get to his workplace in London<\/em> at 9:30 a.m. every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He may have to commute longer than if he chose to live in the same city (or at least in the same country<\/em>) where his workplace is. But, as he claims, the rent is<\/em> cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He used to undertake a 372-mile (526 km) commute to work from Mariposa to Cisco every day \u2014 an endeavor which, depending on the traffic, took about 3.5 hours in one way<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this unusually long commute, he has won $10,000 in a contest for \u201cAmerica\u2019s Longest Commute\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In theory, it should<\/em> take him 33 minutes to travel 16 miles (9.9 km). At least, that\u2019s what Google Maps suggests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In reality, many Dhaka residents have to endure somewhere between 1.5 and 3 hours every day<\/em> to cross such a small distance, due to near-impossible traffic jams.<\/p>\n\n\n There are also entire cities that experience excruciating commutes. Beijing workers who live on the outskirts of town, for example, have to endure a 6-hour commute every day to-and-fro work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes people just pick unusual routes to save time. Other times, they simply build their own means of transportation to travel faster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He chooses to swim through a river every day<\/em> to get to his students \u2014 as an alternative to a 3-hour bus ride he\u2019d have to endure otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He travels for work from Gwalchmai to Holyhead Boatyard in North Wales by paramotor<\/em> \u2014 and he needs to gain clearance from the Royal Air Force every time before take-off.<\/p>\n\n\n He considered his 14-minute drive to work too demanding \u2014 so he built himself a plane<\/em> to cut that commuting time in half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea that you can avoid traffic jams by flying over them isn\u2019t just wishful thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bolivians as a people can enjoy some wonderful sights and amazing views during commutes, considering some of them commute by cable cars.<\/p>\n\n\n Every day, over 80 000 people from Wuppertal, Germany, get around their city sitting on a hanging train. The suspension monorail <\/em>was first opened in 1901 \u2014 and ever since its opening, it has been attracting thousands of tourists every year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of its worldwide popularity, the witty solution to traffic congestion, Wuppertal Schwebebahn<\/em>, became the city\u2019s trademark. <\/p>\n\n\n So, you can probably rest assured that your own long commute isn\u2019t the worst, or the most unusual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You probably don\u2019t fly a plane or paramotor to work, or spend 6 hours on the road in total every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, you most likely do<\/em> spend a certain amount of time on commutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, here\u2019s how average people commute to-and-fro work, what means of transportation they use, and how long it all takes \u2014 traffic jams included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We all waste time commuting. But, since our daily commute time differs depending on the country we find ourselves in, we need to look at the numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Going over the data collected by Numbeo<\/a>, we\u2019ve managed to pinpoint the exact countries that hold the unflattering title of being one of the top 5 countries with the longest average commuting time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Nigeria<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong>is a narrow winner in this category \u2014 with 61.97 minutes<\/strong>, it surpasses the second country with the longest commute, Costa Rica<\/em><\/strong>, <\/strong>by 1.78 minutes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sri Lanka<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>(57.1 minutes)<\/strong>, Kenya<\/em><\/strong> (53.98 minutes)<\/strong>, and Bangladesh<\/em><\/strong> (55.92 minutes),<\/strong> round up the top 5. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking further into the data, it becomes clear that the global commute is not beyond all hope. There still are places where you won\u2019t spend eternity commuting from one place to another, and we\u2019ve listed the top 5 countries with the shortest average commute time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Iceland <\/em><\/strong>is a sure winner with 19.77 minutes on average<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People from Oman <\/em><\/strong>take slightly longer to commute (22.76 minutes)<\/strong>, while Cyprus<\/em><\/strong> (22.93 minutes)<\/strong>, Estonia <\/em><\/strong>(24.51 minutes)<\/strong> and Austria<\/em><\/strong> (25.55 minutes)<\/strong> round up the list of the top 5 countries with the shortest commute \u2014 with no country reaching half an hour. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In case your country wasn\u2019t among the top 5 countries where people spend the most time commuting, you can consider yourself lucky. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHow do people around the world commute<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
How people commute in Bangkok<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How people commute in Vietnam<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Traffic-In-Saigon-by-Boris-Laporte.jpeg\")
How people commute in Istanbul<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How people commute in South Africa<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How people commute in Amsterdam<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/amsterdam-bikes.jpeg\")
Worst, unusual, and unusually long commutes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Commuting while pressed for space<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Passengers-on-the-roof-of-a-commuter-EMU-train-in-India-by-unlistedsightings.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Rush-hour-at-Ueno-station-Yamanote-line.--473x630.jpeg\")
Unusually long commutes from around the world<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sheila James, a public health advisor from Stockton <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Sam Cookney, a social media manager from Barcelona<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
David Givens, an electrical engineer from Mariposa<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Musavvir Mahmud Seazon, a Research Assistant at Bangladesh University<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/This-is-a-street-adjacent-to-New-Market.jpeg\")
Many, many workers from Beijing\u2026<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Simply unusual commutes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Abdul Mallik, a teacher from India<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Paul Cox, a Royal Navy overseer from North Wales<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Photo-by-Michael.png\")
Frantisek Hadrava, a locksmith from one Czech village<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Many, many workers from Bolivia\u2026<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Many workers from Wuppertal, Germany<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Wuppertal-Schwebebahn-Generation.jpeg\")
What is your daily commute to work like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Countries where people commute the longest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/COUNTRIES-LONGEST.jpg\" "\\"TOP")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nCountries where people commute the shortest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Countries](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/COUNTRIES-SHORTEST.jpg\" "\\"TOP")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nCities where people commute the longest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/dtpRvmU4vZRoovZo_DBJafxi0zBkRJIbcemF39XA6d_lo8WjEerJqMwT6bCauyoHUGYhTLVaLy14OCwVBRUeaTa5q2l8bNY4NqipZkrtDIEDjvotrT_Cradp2PInyW0t5XfwrDO4\")
![\"Cities](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/CITIES-LONGEST.jpg\" "\\"TOP")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"Cities](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/CITIES-SHORTEST.jpg\" "\\"TOP")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"MOST](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/MOST-COMMON-MODES-OF-TRANSPORTATION-BY-CITY.jpg\" "\\"MOST")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n