Liftshare, the UK’s largest lift sharing platform, surveyed 500 of its members and discovered that almost half (48%) of them will be changing the way they travel to work after the lockdown lifts.
Here is a breakdown of how people’s commuting patterns may change based on our survey’s results (graphs on page two):
• WFH to increase by 552% • Cycling to increase by 71% • Walking to increase by 8% • Lift sharing to fall by 6% • Train travel to decrease by 36% • Bus travel to decrease by 30% • Driving alone to decrease by 20%*
*Environmental impact: If travel were to change in the way that this survey suggests then the 20% reduction in car alone commuters would save 1 million tonnes of CO2/year.
In order to better understand the results, we also asked people to give us written feedback about their desired future commute, which proved rather illuminating. Here is a small sample of the hundreds of responses we received:
“I hope to cycle to a local office three miles away one day a week, work from home another day and if needed commute to the main office one day a week.”
“This lockdown has proved that we can work from home and I will only go to the office for certain meetings, where closer interaction is needed. On those occasions, I will drive my car.”
“I will commute by car, as the bus only runs once an hour where I live, also not keen to use public transport due to Covid-19.”
“Ideally I would like to work from home but being realistic, I will not be able to do that full-time when lockdown is lifted. Therefore, I would like to lift share with others. It is interesting to see that pollution levels have dropped since the lockdown began due to less traffic on the roads. I would like to continue to do my bit for the environment as well as save myself and like-minded people money.”
“Liftshare due to long commute – reduce costs, better for the environment and it makes the journey less boring”
“A bicycle ride along empty country roads because it is zero emissions and I can get fit and improve my mental health.”
“Walk, I hate the environmental impact of driving, particularly alone, but currently have no other option. Also find it very tiring.”
The survey results clearly indicate that Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown have had a significant impact on people’s plans for commuting in the future. Over the past few weeks, Liftshare has been helping organisations to prepare for the return of the workforce using its innovative technology. Liftshare’s Smart Mobility Scoping tool gives organisations a strategic overview of their staff’s commuter routes, and Liftshare has also created a tool to help advise employees on the best routes to work in relation to social distancing. For more information about Liftshare, this survey and/or how we are helping businesses prepare for the return of the workforce, please contact [email protected]