However, travelling around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope would add several weeks to average journey times and substantially increase the cost of goods for consumers.

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The journey was completed in about 10 minutes, compared with an average road journey of 45 minutes to an hour.

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On average, journey times in Los Angeles are 34% longer than when traffic in the city is flowing freely and 76% longer during evening rush hour.

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In Roman times only the very richest would have the ability to make such a journey: the average working lifetime simply did not contain enough income to finance such a journey.

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But there are ways even the average Joe can make his journey more agreeable.

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For the city test, the cars are driven on an 11-mile, stop-and-go journey at an average speed of 20 miles per hour that lasts 31 minutes and includes 23 stops.

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And the average length of school-run journey was rising, the MPs reported.

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On average (depending on the type of coal used) 1 kWh produces 1.4 pounds of CO2 which would mean a 25-mile journey using 5 kWh would emit around 7 pounds of CO2 compared to your average vehicles emitting 22 pounds of C02.

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Northern Rail fares have risen by an average of 4.8% - the equivalent of around 10-20p per single journey.

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