The graphs illustrate how people in a European city came to office and returned home in two years, 1959 and 2009.
Overall, people took much more time to commute in 1959, as walking was the most preferable transportation method. In contrast, many people prefers driving to work 50 years later.
Looking closer at the first bar chart, more than half of the population decided to to their working places in 1959. Bus and train users took up 15% of the total each. Meanwhile, a combined 15% of commuters travel on cars other methods. This led to people working in close proximity with their homes, averaging only 3.5 km per trip.
Moving on to the secod chart, in 2009, three out of ten individuals used cars to traverse between work and home. Another 25% did so on foot, 30% less than that from half a century before. The figures for buses and trains stayed at 13% and 15%, respectively. Finally, other modes of transportation took up the remaining 12% of the total. These developments contribute to the trend of distant working as people on average commuted five times further than their collegues in 1959 while only doubled their trip duration.