Does commuting affect health?

Research focus

The increase of travel distances and the prevalence of car use in commuting have important health implications in addition to financial and environmental consequences. Exposure to air pollution is also part of the commuting process which may lead to adverse health outcomes. By contrast active commuting is cheap, healthy and contributes to carbon zero, sustainable cities. At an individual level active commuters (those who walk or cycle to work) appear to be exposed to the lowest level of pollution overall as well as cementing physical activity into the daily routine.

However, the relationship between transport and health remains poorly understood and research has often been limited to survey data which have a smaller sample size, and self-reported health measures that are subject to reporting bias.

Our research involves the linkage of large administrative datasets which provide objective measures for health and commuting mode. So far, we have focused on active commuting amongst adults and identified a reduction in risk of mental ill health amongst cycle commuters (Berrie et.al. 2024). Building on this we are investigating the propensity to cycle commute and how this is influenced by access to cycleways as well as factors such as sex, age, family responsibilities and occupation.

Future research will see the focus of our work broadened, covering children and young people’s travel choices, and looking at wider health, wellbeing and economic outcomes. This will include:

· Updating and extending the investigation into the relationship between cycle commuting and health, to include both general health and mental health,

· Investigating health and educational outcomes from active travel amongst school-aged children

· Examining how improvements in cycling infrastructure over the past decade have influenced choice of commuting mode.

Since 2022, all 5–21-year-olds living in Scotland for more than six months a year are eligible for free bus travel via a National Entitlement Card (NEC). Using a combination of financial and census data we will investigate whether free bus travel has led to a modal shift in transport choices amongst young people – aged 16-21 and whether this has increased education, training and employment opportunities. In a separate, but related project we will use health and emergency service data to investigate whether free bus travel has reduced the risk young people being involvement in RTA’s (the accident hump) for example by shifting the age at which they start driving.

This project has potential to:

• Inform policy on transport infrastructure and management in terms of improvement of commuters’ experiences.
• Improve public’s understanding of the potential benefits of active travel to work and school.
• Provide evidence, including cost effectiveness, of policies that promote active travel.
• Provide evidence on the effectiveness of subsidised public transport on improving health and wellbeing outcomes amongst young people.

Data this research aims to link and analyse:

• SMR01: Hospital inpatient records (2011-2025)
• SMR04: Mental health inpatient records (2011-2025)
• PIS: Prescribing information system records (2011-2025)
• SAS: Scottish ambulance service callout records (2011-2025)
• UCD: Accident and Emergency attendance records (2011-2025)
• Census records (2011 and 2022)
• NRS: Death records (2011-2025)
• NCN: Scottish National Cycling Network (2025)
• ACEL: School attendance and attainment records (2011-2025)

Research team

Project Lead: Dr Caroline Fyfe, Dr Kishan Patel, Dr Zhiqiang Feng, Dr Lee Williamson and Professor Chris Dibben

Publications, Outputs and Media Coverage

• BLOG - March 2021 - Creation of large road network distance matrix for research on commuting and health
• BLOG - October 2021 - Commuting and its impact on health
• DATA INSIGHTS - July 2022 - What makes people cycle to work
• DATA INSIGHTS - Jan 2024 - Cycling commute improves mental health
• PRESS - January 2024 - Daily Mail
• PRESS - January 2024 - The Independent
• PRESS - January 2024 - Yahoo News
• PAPER - Feb 2024 - Does cycle commuting reduce the risk of mental ill-health? An instrumental variable analysis using distance to nearest cycle path
• PAPER - June 2024 - The health benefits of pedestrian and cyclist commuting: evidence from the Scottish Longitudinal Study
• PRESENTATION - July 2026: “How do structural and social factors interact to influence uptake of cycle commuting?” IPDLN Conference, Rotterdam.