Bus travel not stressful? Who're you trying to kid?

Now I don’t claim to be as clever as the Goldacre chap when it comes to squirreling out dodgy research (although it’s interesting to note that Ben never strays into the drinking, smoking and eating field – that’s pinko Guardianistas for you) but this research worries me.

Driving a car is more stressful than going by bus, says new research

The author, Dr David Lewis is the media’s favourite ‘neuropsychologist’ and conducts lots of clever experiments designed to advise the owners of big brands on psychological stuff. And some of his work on brands and advertising response is very good and very interesting. His latest piece of research is paid for by folk called “Greener Journeys” who are:

…largely funded by major bus companies and so there are no studies on the stress levels of driving compared with travelling by train.

Dr Lewis did this to come up with his contention:

Dr Lewis, from the University of Sussex, conducted an experiment in which the heart rate and Electro-Dermal Response (EDR) of 30 commuters was measured when taking identical or similar journeys by car as a driver and by bus as a passenger.

So just thirty folk – that’s a pretty representative sample! And even if we aren’t concerned with representativeness, can we really be so sure that the results from just thirty people are enough to prove the point? I know Greener Journeys think so - but they just want to make more money from bus travellers rather than to save the planet or to reduce my stress levels.

So here are a few questions for Dr Lewis:

1. Have you repeated and replicated your test across a range of different locations, times, weather conditions and demographics?

2. Can you provide any evidence that modest short term increases in stress (which is what he is measuring) are actually a health risk?

3. Have you tested the stress levels when the bus is late or cancelled, it’s peeing down with rain and some women is giving you grief for smoking at the bus stop?

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