I live in one of UK’s ‘worst commuter cities’ and have some thoughts

An email dropped into my inbox this week, saying: “These cities are the WORST for commuters.” The city I live in was included on the list.

Cardiff was among the five worst places to be a commuter in Britain, apparently. The other four were Edinburgh, Manchester, Plymouth and Liverpool. The email said a huge percentage of people in these cities found commuting “extremely stressful”. Long journey times, delayed or cancelled trains and cost were the biggest issues.

But the timing of this email couldn’t have been better — because the day before it arrived, I’d been so taken aback by the scene I found myself in on my own commute that I had to stop, get off my bike and take a picture. 

But, in truth, this special moment wasn’t just a random one-off. My commute is often the best part of my day. Most days as I pedal along, I think about how lucky I am as I glide through fields, parkland and beside a river, passing early morning dog walkers and runners as I go, all of us sharing in this wonderful space that I hope they all realise how lucky we are to have.

And, after all that, I emerge into the city to one of the world’s best stadiums towering over me. And then it’s the office. It really couldn’t be better.

There is an enormous green space at the heart of Cardiff – it stretches from Cardiff Castle in the south for nearly five miles, to a nature reserve in the very north of the city, by which point you’re practically in the countryside. It’s twice as long as New York’s Central Park.

It takes in the beautifully manicured Bute Park; the wide open Llandaff, Blackweir and Pontcanna Fields, with their sports pitches, playgrounds and cycle paths; woodlands; coffee shops and nature reserves. And you’re rarely a stone’s throw from the River Taff the whole time, gently meandering its way through it all (unless there’s been heavy rain, in which case its thundering over weirs and threatening to burst its banks).

The whole area is amazing, gorgeous and peaceful. It’s almost like being in the countryside and it’s seen Cardiff ranked as one of the greenest capital cities in Europe, in a study which looked at the amount of green space per 100,000 people. It came fourth, behind Paris, Luxemburg and Dublin.

I spend a huge amount of time in this space even when I’m not commuting. I can comfortably complete a 10km run within just a fraction of the space (you could probably do a marathon without needing to run over the same ground twice). There’s a cathedral, a hidden cemetery and, if you know where to look, loads of little riverside “beaches” where you can idle away the time skimming pebbles over the water or spotting wildlife.

I get that reading this will probably be annoying a lot of people who have little choice but to cram themselves on to trains that they’re not sure will turn up on time, if at all (though people who complain about being Welsh trains being “crammed” should really take a look at what people have to deal with in London).

It’s probably also making infuriating reading for those who need to use a car, van or lorry and drive on any one of the main A470, M4, A4232 trunk roads, as well as several parts of the city, at rush hour. And I get that – I have to do it myself a lot for plenty of reasons. I particularly enjoy being stranded in any one of London, Birmingham or Manchester when I turn up at their train stations at 5pm after working away to learn my train back to Cardiff has been cancelled for reasons which often aren’t explained.

But the point of this piece is not to tell commuters that their experiences aren’t that bad. It’s just a love letter to the wonderful green space Cardiff has at its heart. I’ll never get tired of it.