With the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in England probably two weeks away, the prospect of returning to offices means the revival of the daily c

‘Idea of commuting fills me with dread’: workers on returning to the office

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2021-07-09 07:30:04

With the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in England probably two weeks away, the prospect of returning to offices means the revival of the daily commute.

In a push to bring back more people to town and city centres to boost the urban economy, a group of 50 business leaders, including the Canary Wharf executive chair, Sir George Iacobescu, the bosses of Heathrow and Gatwick airports, the Capita chief executive, Jon Lewis, and the BT chief executive, Philip Jansen, are calling for the government to encourage a return to the office.

The government has already attempted to cajole workers back to the office once before, before Covid cases rose again last September. While some companies, notably banks, have summoned their staff to return to HQ, others have indicated that either remote working, or a hybrid system, is here to stay. This has implications for Britain’s previously hard-worked transport networks.

Official figures from the Department for Transport show a gradual rise in recent months of public transport use across the country, with train passengers surpassing half of pre-pandemic levels. However, figures for London underground (where 40-50% of passengers have returned) suggest leisure trips have sprung back more quickly than journeys to work.