North East commuters curb lifestyle to fund travel

A new report has found that 57% of commuters in the North East are curbing back their lifestyle to fund spiralling transport costs.

According to a new consumer survey from PwC, 56% of the region’s full time workers have experienced increased travel-to-work costs over the past year.

24% of those surveyed for the ‘Voice of the Consumer’ survey reported that their travel costs had increased by ‘a great deal’ in the last year.

Across the UK, around half of those in full-time employment said that had cut back on living essentials and luxuries to fund their rising travel expenditure.

Annual travel costs in the North East are the lowest in the eight UK regions, averaging £1,009 compared to £1,422 in the South East.

However, the figures showed that 61% of commuters in the region have reduced socialising to fund travel, and 66% have cut back on eating out to afford travel costs.

Marcus Robinson, partner from PwC Newcastle said:“The findings of our research have highlighted that in this era of austerity, many people are having to make difficult choices across their essential spend and lifestyle choices.

“In the North East this has particularly impacted spend on leisure activities and groceries.

“It has also affected the number of people who are saving for long term investments, such as buying a house, with 27% or respondents sacrificing saving to afford commuter costs. “

Andrew Sentance, PwC’s Senior Economic Advisor, added: “Transport costs have been rising for a number of years.

“Since 2009 the transport component of the Consumer Prices Index has risen on average by 5.4% a year, and is one of the areas where prices have risen the fastest over this period.

“This is nearly three times the 2% inflation target and way ahead of the modest wage increases employees are seeing in their pay-packets.

“For many people, travelling is an essential area of expenditure which is required to get to work and to maintain contact with family and friends.

“It is not surprising therefore, that this survey suggests that consumers have had to make cutbacks in other areas of spending to pay for higher travel costs.”

The survey also examined people’s preferred transport modes for commuting, leisure and personal use across the country which will be released later this month.