Commuting to work: the car still widely used by the French

It’s rarely a pleasant moment. Whether you are standing in a crowded metro, driving in traffic jams or cycling in the rain, the commute to work is essential for the majority of French people.

In a study published a few days ago, Ifop teamed up with the mobility company Alphabet to decipher the habits of the French. Result: the vast majority (75%) continue to borrow their car to go to work in 2023. Although this figure is down slightly since the first studies – in 2017, they were 81% – it still remains very high.

Half of Ile-de-France residents use the car

Unsurprisingly, residents of municipalities with less than 100,000 inhabitants use the car more – 85% use it daily – than city dwellers (64%). But even in the Paris region, despite a very developed public transport network and particularly heavy traffic, half (51%) of those surveyed continue to travel by car.

The 1,001 people questioned justified this choice by the absence of public transport near their home or place of work (35% and 33%), the number of changes to be made during the journey (15%), the lack reliability (10%) and the fact that it has too many people (9%). Finally, 16% recognize that they have the possibility of traveling differently but prefer this mode of transport.

21% of respondents say they use public transport to get to work. It is above all the economic factor which motivates this choice for half (49%) of those questioned, then speed (43%) and the ecological aspect (34%). A quarter of those surveyed (26%) opt for a gentle means of transportation such as cycling, walking or scootering. Finally, a third uses at least two means of travel to get to work.

Impact on quality of life at work

On average, French people take 24 minutes to go to work and travel 18 kilometers. These journeys can be painful for workers, and a third of respondents believe that they have a negative impact on the quality of life at work, the study reveals. Among the most cited inconveniences: loss of time (65%), overcrowding (50%) and the risk of delay (47%).

Three-quarters of those surveyed say that these travel conditions are taken into consideration in their choice to apply or stay in a company. The fact that the company offers mobility solutions – company car, reimbursement of mileage costs or public transport packages – thus influences the choices of 72% of those questioned.