This year's National Commute Smart Week will run from Sunday, 8th November, until Saturday, 14th November.

With British Summer Time ending on Sunday, 25th October, this years Commute Smart Week will highlight a number of ways of avoiding the misery of travelling to and from work in the dark, and the depression and despondency that many experience as a result, by working and commuting smarter.

Flexible working times (including flexitime, condensed hours and nine day fortnights), staggered journeys and part home working, reduce the overall need to commute, and allow flexibility when people commute, allowing them to avoid peak times.

Trying alternative ways of commuting, such as cycling or walking, can also help reduce congestion and public transport over-crowding, and at the same time significantly improve health and wellbeing.

The knock-on effect of reducing overall traffic congestion and public transport overcrowding by extending the rush hour and reducing peak demand through smarter working and commuting will make the daily commute more bearable for those workers that have no choice when and how to travel.

National Commute Smart Week this year will have five themes, one for each week day:

• Monday 9th - Flexible Working Day - encouraging people to travel outside peak times. Coming into work an hour early, and then leaving an hour early at the end of the day, or going an hour later, and leaving an hour later.      
     
• Tuesday 10th - Remote Office Day - encouraging people to use remote offices instead of travelling to a central office. These would include serviced office space or even hot spots such as coffee shops, and hotels.
  
  
• Wednesday 11th - Virtual Meeting Day - encouraging people to hold a meeting by telephone, telephone conference or online instead of travelling to a meeting.
  
  
• Thursday 13th -  Healthy Commute Day - Cycling (why spend hours in the gym?), Walking (get off a stop or station early and walk), Office (take the stairs, not the lift).
  
  
• Friday 13th - Road Congestion and Road Safety Day (Fatal Friday Phenomenon) - Road users are more at risk of an accident on a Friday than any other day of the week, especially during the winter. Known as 'Fatal Friday Phenomenon', statistics show that more accidents happen on a Friday, and particularly between the hours of 4pm and 6pm, than at any other time. The statistics also show that the number of accidents jumps by up to a fifth in the winter compared to the summer.
  Smarter working and commuting may also help mitigate the significant increase in deaths and injuries that occur on our roads during the winter months, many of which are schoolchildren.

A number of spokespersons will be available from both Work Wise UK and from organisations which successfully practice smarter working, both national and regional. Work Wise UK will be publishing a series of tips and guidance on working smarter, which will be circulated to the media and uploaded on the Work Wise website prior to Commute Smart Week.

Beat Despondency     Ten Top Tips     Partners

TUC Story

Walking Works Story

Citrix Story

AA Fatal Friday Story

For further information please contact:

Phil Flaxton at Work Wise UK
Email: phil@workwiseuk.org