Commuting makes you anxious, unhappy and affects your general wellbeing, according to the ONS. We asked you to share your daily journeys to and from work, and to tell us what you love and hate about them. It turns out that many Guardian readers – according to this non-scientific and rather biased sample, anyway – are able to see a positive or humorous side to these often arduous journeys, while some are lucky enough to experience unusually beautiful journeys every day. Here is a selection of the experiences you have shared with us.
Texas Radical
In Texas, cars and trucks are a second church or home to people. Not driving is unthinkable. Bicycle trails are a United Nations conspiracy. If you're spotted walking someone will stop to ask if everything is okay.
Every morning I show up to work, everyone spends the first half hour of their day complaining about how bad traffic is, then looks at me like the crazy person for riding the train.
Crossing the road Hanoi style
10 metres, 10,000 motorbikes
Islander's commute to Hong Kong
The 7.10 slow ferry from Lantau Island approaching Hong Kong harbour. £1.50 for a hour's leisurely sail with newspaper & coffee,through Hong Kong's outlying islands, past the cluster of container ships into the crazy morning buzz of Hong Kong. A life-affiriming commute
Mind the doors
Every day I travel from Mile End to Farringdon station and back again. The only barrier I have is time - I love watching the commuters, but rarely have the chance to stop moving and take a picture.
http://instagram.com/miketwalker
http://www.flickr.com/photos/muteglasgow
Langer Eugen on the Rhine
I love my commute, it gives me a chance to read and relax before I arrive in the city where I work. The last part of the journey is a brisk walk along the Rhine.
Safer Way To Commute For Women in Jakarta
This is the women-only coach in Jabodetabek Electrified Rail (mass rapid transit system in the Jakarta metropolitan area in Indonesia). Limited for women only because many female passengers experienced sexual harassments or crimes, using the public transports. Hence, authorities extended two special coaches in JER for women, in terms of providing a safer and convenient public transportation for female passengers. Especially for pregnant women, senior citizens and mothers with child.
I take commuter line wherever I go in Jakarta. This city is famous for its crazy traffic jams, driving a car or taking taxi are the least alternative I will take to get around -- it can take hours just to reach 5 kms distance.
Commuting up Loch Lomond
Travelling to Luss Village to work, which is driving a speedboat for a living... Tough, but someone's got to do it!
The East River Ferry
This has changed my life in NYC: after years of putting up with the indignities of rush-hour commutes on the subway, I discovered the best combination of rides for getting from Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, to where I work in midtown Manhattan: I bike down to Fulton Landing, which is a lovely ride through Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights, and catch the East River Ferry to E 34th St, then I bike the rest of the way to work, up to 45th St. I've joined a gym strategically close to my office, so when it's hot outside I can take a quick shower before getting to my desk. There's nothing like a boat ride in the morning to brighten one's outlook.
Trudging through Moscow snow...
Thankfully I live relatively close to my place of work and the biggest hurdle I face is simply getting out of bed every morning. The snow in Moscow certainly makes the city beautiful, but is in no way a hindrance due to the army of snow shovelers keeping the streets clear. On days like the one shown in the photo, the commute is a pleasure.
Shot from the back of a taxi.
I'm on my way into our production office in Kathmandu. I photograph this man from the back of a tiny taxi as I bumble down a rocky dirt road. I'm struck by the simplicity and elegance of his form. I can't help but think of his struggle. We're both going opposite directions. I travel downhill in relative comfort. He pushes a heavily laden old fashioned bike up a hill.
As distant as we are, we both share the same space. With the same purpose we try to overcome daily obstacles. Our own personal obstacles and those laid out on front of us on the road.
Beautiful traffic-free commute
I cycle to work along part of Bristol's wonderful traffic-free cyclepath network. It often gives me moments of serenity like this.
Resurfacing the Road
Cycling in central London everyday can be a mixed experience. But when the sun is shining in the fresh morning air, everything is golden.
Heidelberg - commute to EMBL
A commute entirely on forest trails, climbing 200m of altitude within 3 km of distance in the morning, and a speedy downhill ride back home.
Wheels across L.A.
The Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan area takes the human mass of Greater London and shoehorns it into Southern California, where it writhes and heaves, wedged between two sets of mountains, the desert, and the sea. Living on the far south-western tip of this mass, and being self-employed, I was thoroughly fortunate, ten years ago, to contract to an organisation just a twenty minute walk across city streets from my home.
Two years ago however that fortune changed when my office was 'reimagined and rationalised', (moved), from the far south-west of the city to the far north-east, to the 'Inland Empire' - the eastern most shoulder of LA's sprawl to the desert. Commuting now across the belly of this beast takes at least two hours, each way (think Reading to Dagenham but without public transport), invariably staring at tail lights, all red, allst the way.
Thankfully my contract allows partial telecommuting. On the days when I can't, to avoid the worst of the traffic (and thus keep the commute to merely two hours), I rise at 4 and return home around 9.
That all said, despite the cost in lost hours and burned fuel, I'm still incredibly fortunate - I have a home, I have a job; from the comfort of my car I see mountains awake to the first light of dawn, and each night I refresh with cool ocean air. Yes, incredibly fortunate, and millions would wish to trade their place for mine. A fact I'm at pains to remember when we crawl, nose-to tail, across this unnamed concrete, and these unforgiving freeways.
Three busses, two trains and a toddler
Since having a child, the duration of my morning commute has doubled to nearly two hours. The bus I use to take my daughter to childcare is also used by schoolchildren, so by the time it gets to our road it’s too full to let on any more passengers. So, my daughter and I take a different bus for three stops, and then I try to stop her running into traffic for ten minutes while we wait for the bus we want. When it finally arrives and disgorges the school kids, we clamber aboard to find that it’s still very busy. Luckily, some generous soul usually offers us a seat and then it’s just 25 minutes of entertaining a squirming toddler on my lap until we reach our destination. I’m sure our fellow commuters enjoy listening to stories just as much as my daughter does. They don't really have a choice.
After I have handed over my daughter, it’s a quick bus ride or a 15 minute walk to the train station, where the train is often, mercifully, running as late as I am. Then it’s 40 minutes into central London and 5 minutes on the circle line to my office, followed by the usual security barrier hoopla and a quick stop for coffee, before arriving at my desk a mere two hours after leaving the house.
Thankfully, my husband picks up our daughter in the evenings, so my journey home is a much more straightforward affair, with the added joy of the Evening Standard cryptic crossword for entertainment.
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