Travel time has always been a contentious issue in the larger companies, which is why i left to work for a smaller independent company that treats the engineers fairly and works in such a way that its a pleasure to do the job.
However during my last employment the company wanted the engineer to travel to the first job and back from the last in their own time and have parts delivered during the evening to the van, the courier having keys. Its my feeling that if a company centralises and shuts its depots, employs engineers on a favourable geographical basis, delivers parts to your home address then your home is essentially a satellite depot and you should be paid from the moment you engage into work activities. Its in the companies interest to have engineers scattered about and if someone had to travel 2 hours each way to a depot the company would find it hard to recruit and work effectively. Also companies dont recognise the fact that many people dont really want a sign written commercial vehicle parked up taking space on the driveway in a residential area, full of engineers own equipment and very likely under insured. That has to be compensated surely? Is it really too much to pay people for working, field service is field service whether FLTs or other products that rely on mobile service, it shouldnt be compared to factory employment or shop work, you dont often see an office worker dragging a tool box and spare parts on a bus. (other public transport is available)
Larger companies that keep shaving off the terms and conditions of their employees are making less desirable to work for them and more appealing for the engineer to go it alone.