The Circle Line is number one on the list of London’s most dreaded commutes, according to a new poll from Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading travel price comparison site. The underground line, notorious for its lack of service and delays was voted the worst journey by over a third of people surveyed.
It is a debate which has raged between work colleagues for years: who really has had the worst journey into work?
The results of the poll, released today, reveal the most hated commutes in the capital – proving once and for all that we all face a battle when it comes to travelling into and around the city, regardless of the method of transport we use.
The team at Cheapflights surveyed over 1,000 people at key commuter spots around London over a period of four weeks.
In the number one spot is the Circle Line, which supplies passengers with only 7.5 trains per hour, far below the 29 trains the Central Line provides. It received twice the number of votes of its closest rival, the A1.
Underground: Circle line 37%
Road: A1: North circular – M1 Junction 2 16%
Rail: Essex to London Bridge/ Liverpool Street 11%
Underground: Jubilee line 9%
Road: A12: Romford to M25 7%
Bus: no. 4 route: Archway to Waterloo 6%
Road: A13: A406 – A1306 5%
Bus: no. 322 route: Crystal Palace – Elephant & Castle 4%
Rail: Stevenage-Moorgate via Hertford North 3%
Bus: no.139 route: West Hampstead - Waterloo 2%
The poll also looked at the ways Londoners keep themselves busy during the long ride to work.
Reading the paper or a book 34%
Daydream about their next holiday 28%
Text / phone a friend 16%
Deciding what to do at the weekend 13%
Planning the day’s work 9%
Liz Faherty of Cheapflights.co.uk said of the poll: “The challenge of the London commute is an urban legend in itself. We all wish we could leave the stresses of commuting behind, and we all dream of getting away from the daily grind.
“We see a massive surge in the numbers of people visiting our sites, Cheapflights.co.uk and Cheapholidaydeals.co.uk on a Monday morning, as the capital’s commuters begin to arrive at work. Our research suggests that this can in part be attributed to delay-induced daydreams as Londoners start to plan their escape to sunnier climes!”
Notes to Editors
Founded in 1996, and profitable since launch, Cheapflights.co.uk pioneered the travel price comparison model in the UK. Each day, Cheapflights displays over one million fares on flights, holidays, short breaks and accommodation, from over 700 travel partners. This makes Cheapflights the most comprehensive directory of travel deals available and a natural starting point for travel.
Leading online measurement company Hitwise describes Cheapflights.co.uk as ‘the UK’s favourite travel price comparison site’; and the Company's unique user numbers support this, reaching over 2,000,000 unique users in August 2004 (source: WebTrends).
The company estimates that it will generate travel product sales of over £525 million for its more than 700 UK partners this year. And these advertisers read like a Who’s Who of the travel world - ranging from British Airways, Thomson and Lastminute.com to specialist operators like Barwell Travel, Journey Latin America and Serenity Holidays.
Additionally, Cheapflights is one of the few British Internet companies successfully to establish an operation in the USA with Cheapflights.com. Launched in May 2003, it is already in the top 25 US travel sites (source: Hitwise USA, Travel Agents Category) and heading for similar popularity.
The company also operates the highly successful global accommodation website Cheapaccommodation.com and launched a similar site for the package holiday market - Cheapholidaydeals.co.uk - in January 2004. Cheapholidaydeals, the only major UK internet travel site to launch in 2004, won the WebUser Gold Award and was runner-up in the travel category for the New Media Age effectiveness awards.
In 2004 Cheapflights won The National Business Award, South East Region, for the "best growth strategy" category.
