Londoners are the country’s most unhappy commuters with almost a quarter (24 per cent) saying they hate their journey to work, according to new research.
That compares to just 16 per cent for the rest of the country while more than one in 10, or 11 per cent, of Londoners said their commute left them stressed and 14 per cent said it made them tired.
Commuters have recently been hit by delays and disruptions on the capital’s transport network, including a wave of strikes and shortage of Central Line Tubes.
This week London Overground services were partly suspended because of a track fault while a train strike by Aslef union members meant no trains ran on the Chiltern Railways and CrossCountry networks on Monday.
The Heathrow Express and Great Western Rail have also been running reduced services.
Central line passengers have faced delays and overcrowding because of a chronic shortage of trains. It has been operating at times with barely half of the 78 trains required to run a peak service with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan apologising to passengers for the lack of service.
The average London commute to work is 38 minutes each way compared with the rest of the country’s 32 minutes — yet the journey is on average only six miles — less than half the distance the rest of the country commutes which is 15 miles.
Nearly a half (49 per cent) of those questioned said they would feel more relaxed and less frustrated if they did some form of exercise during their commute.
A total of 4,000 people were questioned for the survey by fitness firm Peloton, as part of the launch of its new "hack the commute" class collection on its mobile app, which aims to encourage people to build exercise into their daily travel from five-minute meditation sessions or short runs between bus and train journeys.
Amanda Gilmore, of Peloton, said: "Britons are overlooking an opportunity to transform their overall fitness and wellness routine. Rethinking how we use the commute has the potential to bring about improvements to mood, productivity, and daily enjoyment — and can propel people towards mental and fitness goals that could have a real impact on their everyday well-being."
