Bristol Travel to Work Survey Results

The Bristol data includes all responses from people working at participating organisations based in the Bristol City Council area, whether they live locally or commute in.

  • In 2026, there were 7,227 responses for the Bristol UA area. In 2025, there were 7,132 responses.
  • This year, 54 organisations based in Bristol UA took part in the survey.

Headline results

1. The % of people spending the majority of their time at the workplace increased slightly. 71% of people say they are spending the majority of their working hours at a workplace while 27% are spending the majority of their working hours at home. In 2025 the figures were 70% and 28% respectively and in 2024 they were 65% and 32%.

Bar chart showing percentage of people working from different locations from 2022 to 2026, with categories "At a workplace," "At home," "Working elsewhere," and "Other." Data reveals a rising trend in workplace attendance from 51% in 2022 to 71% in 2026, while home working declines from 47% in 2022 to 27% in 2026, with minimal changes in other categories.

2. Hybrid working remains popular. The mean is 3.1 days/week at a workplace and 1.5 days/week at home.e and 1.4 days at home.

Bar chart showing average days spent working per week at workplace, home, or elsewhere from 2022 to 2026. Days at workplace remain steady around 3.1, days at home decrease from 2.3 in 2022 to 1.5 in 2025 and 2026, while days elsewhere stay low around 0.1 to 0.2.

2.1 96% of people go into work at least 1 day a week and 65% go into work 3 or more days a week. This is very similar to 2025 (96% and 64% respectively).  

Midweek is still when the majority of people are going into the office. Tuesday is still the busiest day with 63% (down from 67% in 2025) and Friday is still the quietest with 40% (down from 41% in 2025 but same as in 2024).

Bar chart showing workplace attendance by day of week for years 2023 to 2026, with data represented by coloured bars: green (2023), grey (2024), purple (2025), and blue (2026). Tuesday has highest attendance (63-67%), Friday lowest (40-42%), while Saturday and Sunday show minimal attendance (1-2%), and 14% report varied or no set pattern.

2.2 62% of people continue to work at home at least 1 day a week (this is down from 63% in 2025). 25% are working from home 3 or more days a week (this is down from 26% in 2025).

3. 36% of respondents are commuting by personal motorvehicle. 31% are driving alone by car (up from 29% in 2025), 4% are car sharing (down from 6% in 2025) and 1% are travelling by motorbike/moped (same as 2025).

Bar chart showing modes of travel to work from 2022 to 2026 across five categories: Personal Motorvehicle, Active Travel, Public Transport, E-Travel, and Other. Personal Motorvehicle travel was 36% in 2026, Active Travel was 31% and Public Transport shows a gradual increase from 22% in 2022 to 25% in 2026. E-Travel and Other remain minimal below 6%.

4. 31% of respondents are commuting by active travel. This figure is slightly lower than 2025 (32%). 17% are walking and 14% are cycling into work  (the figures for 2025 were 17% and 15% respectively).

5. 25% of respondents are commuting by public transport. This is the same as 2025 and 2024. 17% are taking the bus and 8% are taking the train (the figures for 2025 were 16% and 9% respectively).

6. 3% of respondents are working all the time from home. This is the same as in 2025 but down from 4% in 2024 and 2023. It is still much higher than pre-Covid surveys where less than 0.5% were working only from home.

7. 3% of respondents commute by e-travel (predominantly by personal e-bike). This figure has remained consistent since 2022.

8. Those commuting by train are travelling into work the least – on average, 2.3 days per week (up from 2.2 days in 2025). Those car sharing or walking into work go in the most often – on average 3.5 days per week followed closely by cycle and car driver-alone (both 3.3 days) and then bus (3 days).

9. New for 2026: almost 1 in 4 commuters combine their journey with caring responsibilities. 23% of respondents said they sometimes (10%) or always (13%) combine their commute with care-related travel such as the school run. Of these, 44% travel by car driver-alone to work, higher than the car driver-alone rate across all commuters (31%).

10. One-way journey times to work remain the same while journey distances to work have decreased slightly in 2026. One-way journey time in minutes (mean) is 39 minutes. One-way journey distance in miles (mean) is 10 miles compared to 11 miles in 2025.

Bar chart comparing typical one-way journey to work in terms of journey time (minutes) and journey distance (miles) from 2022 to 2026. Journey time remains steady at 39 minutes, while journey distance slightly decreases from 11-12 miles to 10 miles by 2026.

11. People who walk, cycle or scoot to work have higher journey satisfaction than those who use public transport or road-based transport (car, motorbike). People are slightly more satisfied with their journey to work than from work, this is across most travel modes. Satisfaction rates for working from home remain high at 93% (same as in 2025).

If your organisation would like to find out more about the Annual Travel to Work Survey in Bristol please email:  [email protected]