Motorists undeterred by fuel costs

Car-driving commuters spend more than €1.5 billion a year on petrol or diesel, but are unwilling to change to public transport, a new survey on rising oil prices has found.

Less than a quarter of those who drive to work would prefer to use public transport - even if the transport system was upgraded, a survey conducted over the last two months by Amárach Consulting has found.

Almost 30 per cent of those surveyed said they would never stop using their cars to get to work regardless of how much fuel prices increased, and 32 per cent said they didn't know if there was any increase that could make them abandon their cars for public transport.

The vast majority of Irish workers, 70 per cent, or more than one million employees, use their cars to get to work. The average time to get to work is 34 minutes and the average distance from home to work is 14 miles.

At current fuel prices, a typical car-based commuter spends around €122 per month on petrol or diesel, the survey found.

When presented with a range of options to make fuel savings, more workers opted for a compressed work week (23 per cent) - working four 10-hour days instead of five eight-hour days, than for free public transport (21 per cent).