Catalans spend more than 4 hours and 100 euros a week commuting to and from work.

BarcelonaHow long does it take you every day to travel to and from work? The time we spend commuting can vary greatly depending on our circumstances and factors such as the state of public transport or access to a private vehicle. A study by the Catalan University of Transport (UGT) published this Tuesday puts the numbers on the table: on average, Catalans spend 4.3 hours per week commuting to and from work, around 200 hours a year. Still, in some extreme cases, this calculation can reach over 13 hours per week, when it comes to workers who have to take the local train to leave their area.

These commutes have an indirect cost in the form of the time invested, which could be dedicated to personal work-life balance, but they also include other direct expenses such as travel passes, fuel for cars or motorcycles, or the maintenance of these private vehicles. The UGT estimates that workers spend an average of €100 per week to get to work, about €5,000 per year. The union estimates that for all Catalans, this represents a cost of €20 billion annually. "This cost is very unequal: those who work close to home and walk only pay about €20 per week, while some can pay up to €300 in direct and indirect costs if they work far away and with poor public transport connections," the study states.

The UGT in Catalonia has used this data to once again demand improvements to Catalonia's public transport network, especially beyond the Barcelona area. "We can no longer pay the cost of mobility out of our own pockets," demanded the union's mobility secretary, Jordi Muñoz. He criticized the fact that workers "no longer trust the Cercanías (local commuter trains)" and this is "collapsing" the roads because more people are opting for private vehicles to avoid train delays. Among other measures to reduce this cost borne by employees, the study also reiterates the importance of reducing the working week to 37.5 hours.knocked down in Congress last week– and the expansion of teleworking to limit the number of work-related trips.

Cost in lives

Beyond the economic cost, the Catalan Workers' Union (UGT) has emphasized that a proportion of serious workplace accidents and deaths are road accidents, related either to these commutes or to professional activities involving driving. "Therefore, workplace mobility is one of the main causes of workplace mortality," the organization insists. In Catalonia, of the 180 people who died in traffic accidents in 2024, 33 were related to workplace mobility, almost 20%. Furthermore, 226 of the 1,671 people who suffered serious traffic accidents were also commuting to work.

Regarding the groups most affected by the lack of alternative ways to travel when public transport fails, Muñoz referred to women, since "they use cars 20% less than men"; and to young people who have not yet been able to obtain their license or lack sufficient resources to access their own vehicle.