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Are you looking to see where you can live and still have a reasonable commute to work?
With the rise in hybrid working, many people now have greater flexibility as to how often they commute to work. As a result, many workers are looking to relocate to areas that are still within a good commute time to work.
With our TravelTime app, you can create a travel time map to see where you can live within your ideal commute time by any mode of transport.
How to create your commute time map
You can use our TravelTime app to find areas where you can live and still have a reasonable commute. Check out our examples below.
Note: We’ve used a London commute time map but you can create your own map for the US, Canada, Australia, Europe and much of Asia and South America. Check out our full list of supported countries here.
To see where’s best to start your property search, first enter your work location and your preferred maximum commute time. Here, we’ve picked a 30-minute commute time.
You can also edit your transport mode of choice. We’ve chosen public transport, which will include any areas reachable by public transport within that commute time.
The tool includes a range of transport options: you can switch to walking, cycling, driving or combine driving and train. This then shows you a map of everywhere you can reach within your criteria:
It’s also possible to combine multiple commute times and transport modes to see whether there are overlapping areas that can be reached.
Here’s an example of all the areas within a 30-minute public transport commute (blue) and a 45-minute cycling commute (pink) from Farringdon in London.
Create a train commute time map
If you have to drive to a train station and then take a train to complete your commute, you can use the TravelTime app to search based on this too.
Simply enter your criteria and choose the Driving + Train option:
See changes based on when you commute
The app also takes into account the time of day you're travelling. This is because your commutable area will change depending on when you need to arrive at work.
The map below shows where's reachable if you were to arrive at your workplace at 9 am:
We've switched this to arrive at 9 pm to see how the commute area changes for nightshift workers:
Comparing the two shapes, you'll see that there are a few differences in the areas that can be reached:
Adding commute times to your website or app
If you’re a developer, you can create your own commute time application with the TravelTime API. You can use this to help users see where they can live based on their commute time to work.
For example, estate agency, Foxtons, uses the TravelTime API to calculate travel times and help users find where they can live based on their commute time to work:
You can sign up for a free TravelTime API key here.
Commuter tools to help you plan where to live
Zoopla’s commute time property search
Zoopla’s travel time search tool, powered by the TravelTime API, is designed to help you find properties within your ideal commute time for work. For example, if you work near Leicester Square Station, you can search for properties that are within a specific travel time from there.
You can search by driving, walking, train and bus, and see results in a list or map view.
Rightmove’s property search
Rightmove has also developed an app that lets you find where to live based on proximity to work, family and friends or another location.
Using the TravelTime API, the app allows you to enter the addresses of multiple locations you want to be near, as well as your maximum travel time and transport mode for each. It then calculates the travel times between the locations to determine which properties fall within your maximum journey time.
You can then see an interactive map of the locations that fit your search:
Design your own tube network
Using the TravelTime API, analysis by the New Statesman found that the Elizabeth Line in London will mean shorter commutes for one in four Londoners.
You can use their interactive tool to design a new layout for the London Underground from scratch and see how it compares using real data on Londoners’ commuting patterns.
See where you can live with TravelTime
If you’re looking for where to live, you can use the TravelTime app to see where is best to live based on your preferred commute time.
For developers, you can add this commute time functionality to your website or app to let users see where they can live based on their commuting preferences. To learn more, check out our documentation or sign up for a free API key.
