Technology needed to reduce work travel stress: IBM study

Stan Beer
Thursday, 17 February 2011 11:10

Your IT - Mobility

The daily commute to work is stressing out Australian workers more than ever and technology is badly needed to improve things, according to a new study. Technology is needed to improve transport and traffic information, and to better enable working from home the report has found.

The Australian Commuter Pain Study conducted by Galaxy Research for IBM surveyed adult drivers aged 18-64 years and included 1,556 respondents distributed throughout Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth during October 2010. The study, claimed to be the first of its kind in Australia, found that the majority of Australian commuters are stressed as a result of their daily trips to and from work, university or school and are willing to embrace technology to change their travel experience.

According to the IBM study, 81% of drivers experience travel stress yet much of this could be reduced by the greater use of technology in the management of traffic flows and more flexibility in the way we approach work.

Almost half (47%) of those surveyed believe improved public transportation will help reduce their travel stress and this can be achieved by sophisticated analytics of transport systems, but that building new infrastructure is only part of the solution.

Other technological solutions include introducing greater flexibility to work from home (35%) and accurate and timely information on road conditions (31%).

The survey of over 1,500 commuters, distributed throughout Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth looked at differences in metropolitan commuting patterns and the effects roadway traffic and work, university and school performance have on a person's health and lifestyle.

The study found, that the rising dependency on cars is driving a growing number of problems for Australia, including traffic congestion, pollution, higher fuel prices and increased driver stress. The survey found that driving a car alone is the main mode of transportation by which most Australians commute to and from work, university or school (63%). This is more common in Perth (70%), Brisbane (69%) and Adelaide (67%) than in Sydney (62%) and Melbourne (58%).

In the last three years, 22% of drivers experienced roadway traffic so bad that they turned around and went home. This response to chronic congestion is highest in Sydney (27%) and Brisbane (25%) and lowest in Adelaide (11%) and Perth (11%).

'These findings indicate that the daily commute in Australia's biggest cities is longer and more painful than ever before. It reflects the reality that our transport infrastructure is not keeping pace with continuing economic growth in this country,' said John Hawkins, Smarter Transportation Industry Expert, IBM Australia.

'Building more roads is not enough to solve these issues; introducing smarter technology that can provide real-time information to transportation officials and commuters will help reduce commuter stress and ease traffic congestion.'

The IBM study also shows that our reliance on cars for commuting severely impacts the nation's health and stress levels. 41% of drivers believe that traffic has negatively affected their health, and 39% believe it has negatively affected their performance at work or school/university. Sydney commuters are worst off, with 50% of drivers in that city experiencing negative health effects, whilst the least affected are in Adelaide (28%) and Perth (28%). Among those who believe that traffic has negatively affected their health, increased stress (77%) and anger (52%) are the primary symptoms.

IBM compiled the results of the survey into an Index that ranks the emotional and economic toll of commuting in each city on a scale of one to 100, with 100 being the most onerous. The Index reveals a tremendous disparity in the pain of the daily commute from city to city. Globally, Beijing and Mexico City had the most painful commute and Stockholm had the least painful commute of the cities studied. Australian cities were somewhere in the middle but Sydney was more stressful than London and Los Angeles.

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