Which of these three Scottish cities has the worst commute?

FOR SOME, getting to work can be even more stressful than actually being there.

Living in the city can have its perks but sadly for commuters in Edinburgh and Glasgow, getting to work in a reasonable amount of time is not one of them.

Residents of Scotland’s two biggest cities bear the brunt of the worst morning train delays in Britain’s cities.

Data collected by Fasteroute and the Open Data Institute (ODI) analysed the punctuality of morning train arrivals across 16 major British cities.

The study found that one in four train arrivals between 7.00am and 10am were delayed in Edinburgh while more than one in three arrivals in Glasgow suffered delays.

Delays amounted to over ten hours a year in both cities - equivalent to one and a half working days.

EDINBURGH

Avoiding public transport can leave Edinburgh workers stuck in rush-hour jams.

The TomTom Travel Index 2015 showed that travel in Edinburgh took 36 per cent longer on average than in free-flowing traffic and 71 per cent longer in the evening rush hour.

The Index also revealed that commuters living within a 30-minute drive of the capital face daily delays of around 24 minutes - adding up to a grand total of 93 hours a year.

With more than a third (35 per cent) of its workforce living outwith the city limits, Edinburgh’s influx of workers puts strain on the city’s transpot network.

Those travelling on Easter Road, London Road, Maybury Road and North and South Bridge, face the worst of the congestion.

GLASGOW

In Glasgow, the ultimate killer commute was revealed to be the 4.22pm east-west service from Cumbernauld to Dalmuir which arrives late on nearly three of every five days.

The train’s chronic punctuality problems are caused by its travel through Glasgow Central, and a heavily-congested stretch at Partick in Glasgow’s west end, which handles trains every two minutes.

The 4.22pm reached its destination more than five minutes late 58 per cent of the time in year to June. An hour later at 5.22pm, it was late on 54 per cent of the time.

Other routes causing commuters headaches are the 5.56pm from Airdrie to Balloch, and the 6.20pm from Glasgow Central to Lanark.

ODI found that if commuters travelled half an hour later or before the 8.30am - 9.00am rush, they would reduce the amount of time stuck in delays per year by two hours.

More than 200,000 of Scotland’s workers commute for more than two hours a day, according to the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

Three times as many people in London committed to the long-haul commute.

ABERDEEN

But it’s Aberdeen that experiences the worst road delays, according to Direct Line. Motorists in the city experience an average delay of 6.5 minutes for every half hour they get behind the wheel.

During rush hour, drivers travel at an average speed of just 12.6mph, compared to average of 16.2mph at off-peak times.

And rush hour traffic won’t be easing off anytime soon, with the latest census revealing a fall in the number of people using public transport or walking. Almost two-thirds of working Scots - around 1.3 million - decide to travel in a car or van, adding to the congestion.

According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), 237 people living in Islington in North London, commute to Aberdeen while more than 450 people living in Kent travel to Dumfries and Galloway.