So, in general, how far do people here drive to work?
For me, a round trip is 140kms. Open rural roads, so a relatively easy commute. About 50 minutes or so each way.
My parents each travel around 20 miles round trip to work, and I'd say they have fairly short commutes (UK), at under 30 minutes each way.
My mum earns around £40000 p/a, of which she'll take home around £30000 after tax. Google route planner estimates that she'll use anywhere between £3-5 worth of fuel daily, depending on the fuel economy of her car.
If one conservatively estimates that she works 40 weeks out of the year, she'll spend anywhere from £600-£1000 a year on fuel for her work commute alone, around 3% of her net income.
Bear in mind the average UK salary is around £26000 p.a. before tax, so around £20000 net. Someone with my mum's commute could therefore be spending up to 5% of their net income on petrol to get to work. It's not insignificant.