South Korean workers in the capital spend an average of 1 1/2 hours commuting daily, data showed Wednesday.

According to big data analysis conducted by the nation’s No. 2 mobile carrier KT, the average daily commuting time in Seoul, its surrounding Gyeonggi Province and the western city of Incheon, was 89.4 minutes.

The study, conducted in April, was based on an analysis of Long-Term Evolution signals of some 420,000 subscribers to the company‘s high-speed internet connection services who are aged 30-40 and work more than six hours a day in the greater Seoul area.

(123RF)

According to its findings, Seoul commuters spend an average 46.9 minutes on their way to work and 49 minutes on the way home.

Incheon citizens have an average commute of 42.6 minutes to the office and 42.8 minutes on the way back, while Gyeonggi Province residents spent 43.4 minutes commuting to work and 43.6 minutes coming home.

Traffic jams topped the reason for the return journey taking longer, the data showed.

Seoul had the shortest commuting distance of 13.3 kilometers, followed by Incheon at 15.7 kilometers and Gyeonggi Province with 16.7 kilometers.

The data found that Mondays take the longest time to get to work in Seoul at 45.2 minutes, while Fridays are the longest commute home with 46.5 minutes.

On average, people leave for work at 7:57 a.m. in Seoul, 7:53 a.m. in Gyeonggi Province and 7:50 a.m. in Incheon.

“Workers who have a long commuting distance and time are more likely to experience time poverty than those who don’t,” said Ryu Sung-il, senior researcher at the KT Big Data Business Unit.

By Byun Hee-jin (hjbandi9@heraldcorp.com)