Let’s follow Seoul in working to cut commuting time
Our commute time has an impact on our health. For one, studies have found that commute time and sleep time are negatively correlated. According to one study of American adults, for every 30 minutes of additional commute time, sleep time falls by 11 minutes on average. Long commute times can also increase one’s risk of insomnia and sleep disorders.
Not only that, if our commute time is long, we could end up sacrificing our exercise time. A longer commute distance will encourage a commuter to take a car or bus rather than walk or cycle.
Taking all these factors into account, it’s reasonable to assume that a longer commute time could increase the risk of overweight and obesity.
With only 24 hours a day, we should target spending no more than an hour a day to commute. That is known as “Marchetti’s constant”, named after Italian physicist Cesare Marchetti, who theorised that a person’s commute time would stay constant at about an hour a day no matter the mode of travel.
In recent years, the idea of a 10- or 15-minute city, where all the daily conveniences residents need are located nearby, has become popular. This is part of a trend towards a healthier, more sustainable urban design by encouraging walking and cycling. A 15-minute city would not only reduce traffic emissions but also increase the vitality of the local community.
Many big cities, including Paris, are now exploring how to implement this vision. In Asia, Seoul is moving in that direction.
Earlier this year, the South Korean authorities launched a high-speed rail service between Seoul and the satellite city of Dongtan which cuts the usual 90-minute commute to 19 minutes. This is part a new GTX train network that will link the city centre to its outskirts within a 30-minute commute radius.
The government hopes the new service will encourage people to set up homes outside the city – where it is less cramped and expensive – and start having babies. South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate, with the average number of expected babies for a woman during her reproductive life falling to 0.72 last year.
Like South Korea, Hong Kong’s fertility rate of
0.8 is abysmally low and housing in its city centre is similarly cramped and expensive. Shorter commute times are badly needed here as well.