Report Urges Less Commuting and More Regional Cooperation in Luxembourg

The typical Luxembourg worker commutes for more than 30 kilometres each day, with cross-border commuters averaging almost double that distance, according to recently released research.

The study, which analysed 2023 data, was published by the Luxembourg Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning and Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research on Tuesday.

In it, report authors called for authorities to find ways to cut down on overall commuting distances and for more joint planning among local, regional and national governments in the Greater Region.

The Centre area, which includes Luxembourg City, Bertrange and Niederanven, was the largest employment hub, with about half of the country’s total employment base located in the agglomeration, including about a third in the capital.

That gave the Centre urban area an employment surplus, with 1.22 jobs per inhabitant.

Luxembourg employees had an average commute of 30.6km, although the average was nearly half that (16.7km) for people residing in the Grand Duchy and 49km for cross-border commuters.

A bit over half (53%) of people employed in the Grand Duchy lived in Luxembourg, and roughly a quarter (24.8%) lived in France, with around 11% resididing in Belgium and 11% in Germany.

The study found that nearly a quarter (24.3%) of Luxembourg employees worked in the same municipality where they lived, many of them teleworkers.

By far, the capital attracted the largest number of cross-border commuters. However, “some border municipalities such as Weiswampach (70%), Grevenmacher (60%) and Schengen (67%) have a particularly high proportion of jobs held by cross-border workers,” the ministry noted in a press release.

Less commuting, more cross-border cooperation

The report called for more measures to reduce the number of commuters.

“The most commonly implemented avenues are infrastructural, such as the development of the tramway network, multiplication of cycle paths, or the increase in the number of park and ride facilities. However, to address the problem at its source, it is important to limit the very need to travel, especially individually and by motorised means. Thus, bringing residential and work functions closer together is a measure in favour of limiting travel.”

“Beyond the fact that residents of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are largely responsible for their own road congestion, the importance of cross-border work requires the strengthening of cross-border cooperation,” the authors concluded.

“Common territorial planning strategies must be developed for this area, which encompasses the country and all municipalities with a high proportion of cross-border workers. Only in this way can Luxembourg and its bordering regions, in the interest of their citizens, guide their territorial development in a sustainable and resilient manner,” they said.