Getting there

COMMUTING: Britain’s transport minister has some ideas for making the daily commute to work less stressful. Norman Baker says London’s rush-hour traffic could be reduced if employers and transport companies were more flexible and commuter-friendly.

Baker suggests that if more people worked from home and if bus, train and underground companies offered discounts for off-peak travel, London and other parts of Britain could be much more pleasant for everyone. “It is crazy these days for people to go to work when work can come to the people,” the transport minister told The Guardian. “It is even crazier that we all travel on the same train on the same day at the same time. We should be able to spread the peak across different times.”

Norman Baker


"It's crazy that we all travel on the same train at the same time." 

The minister said that, for example, the most expensive public-transport fares could apply at peak travel times such as 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Travelling earlier or later could then be incrementally cheaper. He also encouraged companies to set up satellite offices outside London to bring some relief to the capital’s clogged commuting routes.

Staggering commuter traffic times will have another benefit, Baker says: next summer, London hosts the Olympic Games. “We are going to have a gigantic influx of people all wanting to travel to see their events, and it is simply not possible for everything to keep running if everyone carries on as normal, so you have got to work differently to do this.”

The government is looking to Singapore for lessons in how to reduce road traffic at peak hours. The Asian city-state, which has some of the highest car taxes in the world, set up the world’s first congestion-charge system in 1975. A congestion-charge system was introduced in central London in 2003 and has since been extended.

Britain’s umbrella union organization, the Trades Union Congress, supports the transport ministry’s efforts.