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Outside of large cities, where public transport represents a preferred alternative, the car remains the primary means of transport for getting from home to work.
In France, three quarters of working people (74%) use a car for their home-work journeys, according to the Alphabet France x Ifop 2024 barometer. Even if this percentage tends to decrease slightly over the years (compared to 81% in 2017 during the very first barometer of its kind), the car remains the preferred means of transport to get to work. Far behind, 27% of those questioned use a classic soft mode of transport (walking, cycling, scooter) or electric, 23% prefer public transport and 7% a motorized two-wheeler (or three-wheeler). If the total exceeds 100%, it is because of multimodality, almost a third (31%) of workers combining two different means of travel to get to work.
Obviously, this statistic varies depending on the region and type of city. In towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants, the car is used less (64%) than the national average. Conversely, in smaller towns, it is more popular (84%). If in the Paris region, only 54% of respondents say they use a car, this figure rises to 83% in the north-eastern quarter of France. Concerning public transport, this mode of travel concerns 51% of workers in the Paris region but does not exceed 9% in the southwest.
Among those who use a car to get to work, 88% now drive a thermal vehicle. However, almost half of those surveyed (47%) plan to turn to an electric or hybrid engine in the future, because it is more ecological (50%), more economical (48%), quieter ( 31%) and more pleasant (27%). Today, only 10% of respondents say they have a company or service vehicle. In the rare case of an electrified vehicle, they almost always (83%) benefit from a charging solution provided by their company, mainly at their workplace.
According to this study, the average journey distance between home and work is 18 km, for an estimated time of 25 minutes. Here again, there are many differences depending on the regions studied. In the Paris region, only 17% of workers take 10 minutes or less to travel between home and work, and 43% take 30 minutes or more. On the other hand, in the South-East for example, 33% take 10 minutes or less, and only 20% take 30 minutes or more.
For 30% of respondents, this journey between their home and work has a relatively negative impact on their quality of life and their working conditions, in particular because of the loss of time it causes (52%), overcrowding (51%), the risk of delay (45%) or accidents (42%). 70% even say that the level of arduousness of the commute to work weighs in the choice of staying in a company or applying elsewhere.
Unsurprisingly, 80% of people surveyed would like to see their type of mobility change to get to work in the future. They would like their journeys to be more economical (40%), faster (31%) and more ecological (25%).
This study was carried out online by Ifop for Alphabet France, a specialist in vehicle rental for businesses, from June 17 to 21, 2024 among 1,002 active French people aged 18 and over.