Wrexham named the worst place in Wales for commuting

The new research from Uswitch.com names Wrexham as the eighth worst place in the UK for commuting. 

The research analysed local authorities in the UK, as well as a range of countries around the world, looking into various factors including average commute time and the cost of getting to work, as well as green factors including the number of electric vehicles and charging points on the roads.

Meanwhile, Stafford, in the West Midlands, holds the title of the UK's worst place to commute.

While it scored ok in terms of commute cost and times, it was the green factors where Wrexham lagged behind, with low numbers of both electric vehicles and chargers, as well as having high emissions per capita of 6.6 tCO2.

The average monthly public transport pass cost in Wrexham was worked out to be £52.17, compared to £162.00 in London and £30 in Newport, the only other Welsh location to feature in the top ten.

The average commuting time in Wrexham is said to be 15.9 minutes, the shortest of all locations on the top ten list.

However, in recent weeks this average will have been much higher.

Motorists have experienced delays of an hour or more at rush hour on the A541 into Wrexham due to issues with new traffic lights at Cefyn Y Bedd.

Resurfacing work extended on A483 in Wrexham between Gresford and Rossett.

Meanwhile, resurfacing work between Junction 6 at Gresford and Junction 7 at Rossett starting on October 11 have caused delays on the A483 in Wrexham.

As one of the busiest cities, not just in the UK, but in the whole world, it’s probably no surprise to anyone who’s been on the Tube at rush hour that London makes the top three worst places to commute. The capital wasn’t just the most expensive city when it comes to public transport, with a travel pass costing an average of £162, but it’s also the city with the longest average commute, with Londoners spending an average of 36.3 minutes getting into work.

Florence Codjoe, car insurance expert comments: “After nearly two years of lockdowns and working from home, the world is finally beginning to open up again, which means across the globe many of us are heading back into the office and having to deal with the stress of the daily commute.

“It’s interesting to see our research reveals Ireland and the United Kingdom are the two worst countries in the world for commuting. Ireland comes out as the worst, notably having the highest public transport pass cost, followed closely by the UK which scores poorly across the board - from high transport costs to a long average commute time. Turkey came out as the best country for commuting largely due to the affordability of commuting and for scoring highly on the green factors which we looked at.

“It will be interesting to see if the daily commute improves over the coming years, with more countries adopting a hybrid way of working, which in return should hopefully see the average commute time decrease in countries across the world.”