WORK is the major factor behind people commuting from Bendigo to Melbourne on trains.V/Line surveyed more than 11,000 people across regional Victoria.The figures show during 2010 and 2011, 40 per cent of customers, or 1.02 million trips, were for work.Education, 24 per cent or more than 600,000 trips, was the second most popular reason to commute.Personal business and leisure rounded out the top three with almost 250,000 trips or 10 per cent of travel.The return trip, Melbourne to Bendigo, revealed different habits. More than a third of commuters, 36 per cent or more than 116,000 trips, were Melburnians visiting family in Bendigo.Almost 88,000 trips, or 27 per cent, were people travelling to Bendigo for work.Thirteen per cent of trips to Bendigo were people travelling for education and eight per cent were for personal business.V/Line chief executive officer Rob Barnett said the survey would help the organisation plan for the future. “No two parts of the state are the same and people are travelling for different reasons,” he said. “What was interesting was the number of Melburnians using V/Line to travel for high-quality cultural events and attractions in regional Victoria.”