Read this in vrt news: “55 % of employees who live less than 5 km from their work travel there by car.” I’m curious to know what those numbers are like on here AND if you travel by car for 5 km or less why you choose to do so.
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Full article for those who are interested: [https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/01/24/vanaf-mei-2023-heeft-iedereen-recht-op-een-fietsvergoeding/](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/01/24/vanaf-mei-2023-heeft-iedereen-recht-op-een-fietsvergoeding/)
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48 comments
Leuven – Brussels – train
Ghent – Bruges – train
<2km bicycle
4 km, usually bike, but sometimes tram or on foot.
Tamines – Ciney (technically it’s not work, but a formation), and by train+bus.
Kortrijk to wherever the fuck they need me so car it is
Permanent telework. No more daily commutes to Brussels from Hasselt (train, previously) since COVID.
About 2km, bike when I can. Car when I know I have external meetings. If I have an external meeting scheduled on the day itself when I’m by bike, I just ride home and take the car from there.
My situation is absolutely ridiculous right now, I live 500m from my workplace’s offices. Taking a car would probably double my traveltime compared to just walking.
Our company explicitly does not give out company cars as part of salary because they’re located within 500m of a train station. So all of us come by train or bike
train
Gent -> Oostende by train and bike
Other: around 25km – hybrid (when not at home, public transport)
6km these days and i bike it 🙂
Train + 1.3km walking (one way)
25km, bike 95% of the days
Edit:
It’s a fast bike (Gazelle cytizen speed 380)
+-1h, 30-38 top speed depending on wind, small motor so still intensive.
Car would take me 50min
We have one car that I use to go to the office 2x per week (25km) and I have my bijberoep which sometimes has me drive +100km back and forth in the evening. My partner and I invested in an electric bike for her to go to work with (8km), but she’ll sometimes take the car, because either she does grocery shopping after work or her boss plans her for a late shift one day and early shift the next.
telewerk 4/5
one day suburb of Hasselt -> Suburb of Leuven -> car ( alternative is bike-train-another train- on foot -> takes double as long.)
50 km, 45m – 1h single way, car
Why? It’s choosing between 45 minutes or 2h+ with public transport… easy choice
Telework 4 out of 5 days makes it really doable. And I get the wage benefits of working in a big city.
Other: can have up to 6 different workplaces in one day.
So car is the only option (since I also need equipment + always a chance my schedule changes the day itself).
My current client is in Antwerp, and I live in the Aalst region. So car it is even with all the traffic. In theory, I could take public transport, but I’ve tried, and it always takes about two hours best case, due to delays. By car it’s at worst 2 hours. In the evening car is always faster.
Luckily I only do it max twice a week because I don’t care about the internal policy of my client, but I do like to meet colleagues at least sometimes for human interaction.
110 km, but 4/5 telework.
The one day I do go to the Office I try to go before/after traffic hits.
Takes me roughly 1h30 (x2) but it’s starting to take a toll so … -opens LinkedIn- 👀
Oh, public transport is also not an option
<5km with a car – but I pick up 2 persons on the way.
I get sick very easily, and since cold air reduces heavily upper airways virus and bacteria protection (there is a study behind that), I use car when it’s not a summer.
+/- 5km from work but come by car since I have to go to different sites for work, sometimes at a moment’s notice.
If I’m sure I can stay in the office I sometimes come by bike, but biking home during work to get my car to go to a worksite kinda sucks.
Currently I take the car (on average 30m rides, so really no choice), but when looking for a job, if the train or bike are options, I see that as a plus. A 15m bikeride adds up to 2h30 of biking a week, without the stress of traffic. Even trains, with the NMBS as it is, I find more relaxing than car rides. The possibility to mentally black out for half an hour is strangely refreshing.
I live 3-4km from my work (self-employed; GP)
On days I am not on call and when I don’t have excessive house calls planned I try go by e-bike.
However since we have a more rural practice I need my car on days I’m scheduled for acute housecalls otherwise I can be on my bike 30min for a single housecall (one way)
~40km, car obviously.
Depends on which client needs me. Sometimes it’s only 20km, sometimes it’s at the other side of the world. So either by car or by car and plane.
But 99% of time I’m working from home so only a few meters from my bed to my home office.
I used to drive 95km (single way, so 190km per day) to the office in Brussels daily. I left home early to avoid traffic jams around Antwerp as much as possible. I did this for many years. No complaints though as I love my job.
I’ll be moving relatively soon, which would become: 80 km by fastest route, 65km otherwise. There’s no train station in a reasonable vicinity. So car is fairly logical choice.
Thankfully, I get to work 3/5 from home most of the time.
Mostly from home, if not, random locations, mostly +40km – car is only reasonable option
25 km. Speed Pedelec, car or special busses provided by company (Not De Lijn since they don’t drive deep in the port)
Bike home to trainstation train 70km train (1h 15 min) bike trainstation to work. No teleworking in person every day.
Train!!!
I’ll explain why:
* I am lazy
* I don’t pay for my car
* I don’t like the rain or cold weather during winters so I enjoy my warm and comfy car
* I don’t like hot weather during spring and summer so I enjoy the airco in my comfy car
* I often do my groceries immediately after work or during my lunchbreak and I can simply transport more things and easier with my car
Less than 5 km, company car + unlimited fuel card. I do not like the cold.
I feel like the stats on here wont be contradictory to the news stats.
1) Majority of people on this Reddit are 20-35, and probably work in big cities;
2) Majority of working Belgians live not in big cities, and probably travel by car since many reasons;
3) It really depends on a season;
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For example, my dad is a lorry driver and if its Summer, he will travel by scooter (he lives in a small village and his company is around 4.5 km far. But if its Winter, he will definitely take a car. Also, cycling in small villages is not always safe/practical.
Living 5km from work doesn’t necessarily mean to travel just 5km. I could imagine that many people bring their kids to school [*] or the daycare, go to the gym or do their grocery shopping after work, etc.
[*] Of course, one could ask why they have to bring their kids to school by car, but that’s a different question with many possible answers (laziness, location, belgian urban misplanning, too dangerous, etc.).
Have you ever heard of public transport? 😉
5km , car, because company car and fuel.
> Read this in vrt news: “55 % of employees who live less than 5 km from their work travel there by car.”
Of those 55%, I reckon maybe 5-10% has a valid reason for doing so. The rest are just absolute buffoons.
10km one direction, electric bike
The main driving factor is probably laziness + company car. If I had a company car, I’d do like my mom and take it to go to the park that is a literal 10 min walk away. I’m kidding I’m not a crazy boomer, I walk or bike everywhere.
2km and by car.
Reason: Because I can
6km, car. Technically, is more than 5, right?
Why, pure laziness.
65 km by car, to sit behind à computer all day. Thanks to 20th century middle management !
Crazy to read so many people saying they are working from home (which is 100% more than pre-COVID), yet traffic has never been so wild.
100km (to Antwerp). But i work from home like 90% of the time. Only have to go in once every two weeks.
I live 150km from my work. There is no way I can take a train and arrive on time