Newport has long since had a reputation as a hotspot for commuters – though that could be set to change.

Given its proximity to Cardiff and Bristol, and on a direct train line to London, the city has long been seen as a great place to live, for those looking to travel elsewhere.

But, a new study has found that Newport is actually the worst city in Wales for commuting, and one of the worse UK wide.

The research, conducted by Uswitch.com has analysed local authorities to find the best and worst places and regions for commuting.

They looked at a variety of factors, ranging from average commute time and cost of getting to work, to green factors such as the number of electric vehicles and charging points.

And, with these metrics in mind, Newport is the 10th worst place in the UK for commuting.

What’s more, with no other places in Wales ranking lower, it is de-facto the worst place in Wales, too.

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What did the study find?

According to the research, the average cost of a monthly travel pass in the city is £30, while the average commute time is 17.8 minutes.

Meanwhile, there is said to be 275 electric vehicles per 100,000 people in the area, and 31.3 charging points for those vehicles – again, relative to the number of people living here.

UK wide, Stafford was considered the worst destination for commuting, with a high travel cost of £101.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London came in at second worst.

While it has a great deal of transport infrastructure, it is eye wateringly expensive at £162 a month, and isn’t necessarily quick, taking an average of 36.3 minutes per journey.

On a global scale, Ireland was said to be the worst country, closely followed by the United Kingdom.

The study found that cost, average commute time and eco-friendliness all requiring some improvement.

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What has been said about the study?

Florence Codjoe, car insurance expert at Uswitch said: “After nearly 2 years of lockdowns and working from home, the world is finally beginning to open up again, which means across the globe many of us are heading back into the office and having to deal with the stress of the daily commute.

“It’s interesting to see our research reveals Ireland and the United Kingdom are the two worst countries in the world for commuting. Ireland comes out as the worst, notably having the highest public transport pass cost, followed closely by the UK which scores poorly across the board - from high transport costs to a long average commute time. Turkey came out as the best country for commuting largely due to the affordability of commuting and for scoring highly on the green factors which we looked at.

“It will be interesting to see if the daily commute improves over the coming years, with more countries adopting a hybrid way of working, which in return should hopefully see the average commute time decrease in countries across the world.”