Travel Time And Wellbeing: A Literature Review

Introduction
Literature has documented a number of studies or reviews pertaining to the impact of travel time on the commuters’ well-being. Furthermore, it has been documented how various business locations determine the mode of transport employees may use to get to work. Subsequently these modes of transport have different impacts on the well-being in relation to the length of time spent to reach either work or home. Thus, the impact of travel time to work on wellbeing will be discussed as well as other subject areas that have been articulated in studies pertaining to the topic such as, the stress of travel, organizational compensation and the utilization of travel time. In this literature review ‘travel time to work’ and ‘commuting’ will

This fact is arguable since many uses of time have been documented considering the improvement in technology and the motor industry. Some studies have gone further to differentiate between travel time and activity time as being mutually exclusive (Lyons & Urry, 2005). In contrast, this division is blurry because many people are using their travel time to engage in personal or work activities (Lyons & Urry, 2005). The ability to actually utilize the time of travel may in essence help prevent the effects of stress incurred by the impact of travel time on wellbeing. Travel time for work purposes can be used to type, write, think, make phone calls and send text messages. Travel time can also be used for leisure reading, socializing with other passengers, playing games, entertaining children, listening to music/radio, drinking, eating, and sleeping (Lyons et al.,, 2007; Lyons & Urry, 2005). Nonetheless, the utilization of travel time would be dependent on the mode of travel; typing and writing would be difficult or dangerous to do while driving in your private car, but may be possible while travelling on (some) commuter trains. Although some of this time uses may seem unproductive such as sleeping and playing games, they do however, have positive values for the individual such as the capacity to arouse positive emotions in individuals (Barlow, 2010). Of importance to note is that all of the mentioned commuting time uses have been documented for public train users (Lyons et al., 2007; Lyons & Urry, 2005). Additional, Wener and Evans (2011) propose that private car drivers experience their commuting time as more stressful than train users for they consider their journey as more effortful. While in contrast, Gottholmseder et al. (2008) without specifying the mode of transport postulates that those who utilize their journey to work experience commuting