00:00 Train
arriving at station
Coach
on road
Commuters
passing through turnstiles
Train
pulling out of mainline station
Pull
back on double-decker bus
Students
entering University “Built Environment” Faculty
c.u.
University of West of England sign
Professor
Lyons with David Holly
c.u.
Prof. Lyons
c.u.
David Holly
Guide Voice: Travelling or “going on a
journey” - for many of us, that regularly includes
commuting - travelling between our home and place of work.
Largely a phenomenon of modern, industrialised societies, the
commute has come to bookend the day of so many of us.
But what does it really mean to commute? Is our journey
“dead time” that we need to reduce to an absolute
minimum, providing more and faster transportation – or is
there more to the way we travel on a day to day basis; more that
needs to be examined and understood about the ways in which we
choose to use our travel time?
Scientists at the University of the West of England, in Bristol,
certainly think so. Lead by Professor Glenn Lyons, researchers in
the University’s Centre for Transport and Society, along with
colleagues at LancasterUniversity's Centre for Mobilities
Research, are conducting a detailed study of
“Travel-Time Use in the Information Age”.
00:49 SOT: Professor Glenn Lyons, Director of
Centre for Transport & Society, University of the West of
England – “If we look at how
we’ve understood travel time over the last 40 years, in terms
of transport policy, a key assumption is that when we’re
travelling that time is unproductive or wasted; therefore, if we
can reduce travel time that time is released to become more
productive. And that’s been at the heart of multi billion
pound decisions about how we’ve invested in our transport
system. So the very shape of the transport around us and the effect
its had on society I would say is absolutely profound and as we
look forward to the future will continue to be so.” (35
secs)
01:26 Commuters
waiting on local station
Woman
on station places i-pod in pocket
c.u.
mobile phone use
Woman
talking on phone at station
Guide Voice: What we can do with our travel
time has changed significantly in recent years, almost entirely
because of changes in technology. Mobile phones, laptop computers
and PDAs all mean that travel time isn’t necessarily
unproductive time – and that we can be working even when
we’re not in the office.
01:43 SOT: David Holly, PhD Researcher, UWE,
Studying Time Use and the Business Traveller –
“ With, obviously, new technologies and the changing
nature of employment, there’s a lot more opportunity to use
travel time – whether or not people do is, I think, a
different matter. But I think the important thing is there’s
more of a choice when people are on a business trip; travelling in
a car or on the train, it’s not the fact that they
can’t do work it’s more a chance that they potentially
choose not to do work. In fact, they’re using that time for a
different purpose all together. Maybe time out from work – an
opportunity to actually have a break.” ( 38 secs)
02:22 Passengers
embarking
Cyclist
placing bicycle on the train
c.u.
Woman with i-pod earphones
Researcher,
Laura Watts, observing on platform
Laura
taking notes
Video
clip from domestic camera (provided by researchers)
c.u.
researcher writing notes
Wide,
researcher on platform
Passenger
emerging onto platform
Guide Voice: Whether travelling for work or
leisure there are now more ways to use our time. Gazing out of the
window on long journeys might now be replaced by listening to music
or playing the latest video game.
Professor Lyon’s researchers spent many hours studying
people’s travel experiences – watching people on
trains, busses and coaches, taking short video clips like these
which show the paraphernalia we surround ourselves with on modern
journeys. Their research suggests that travel time, especially the
commute, is an important transition period between work and
domestic roles and also offers a valuable escape from
responsibilities in both the office and the home.
03:00 SOT: Prof. Lyons –
“The commute to work seems to be a deep seated behaviour
at the individual level and when we examine that closely we find
that people attach certain values to that journey which
they’re not perhaps immediately conscious of. It has a
transitional value – if you’re leaving the office from
a stressful meeting you don’t want to instantly arrive on the
doorstep at home to greet the children. That period, that buffer of
time between different existences we have in our lives, different
social identities we have, is really quite precious to
us.” (32 secs)
03:32 Bicycles
parked at station
c.u.
“CyclePark” sign
Wide
– train and bicycles
Wide,
train in cutting
Wide
– train over bridge
Pull
out from bus to show traffic
Guide Voice: The team’s research will
produce a number of reports and recommendations aimed specifically
at the transport industry and intended to help shape the future of
travel.
The lessons currently coming out of this research seem to
suggest that, increasingly, it’s about the quality of travel
time and not just about the duration or the cost of the journey. If
this is the case then public transport may once again be able to
offer a very real alternative to the car.
03:59 End
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