Telecommuting

Busy traffic on a road

Leveraging the Choice Not to Travel

The pandemic accelerated the growth of remote services and telecommuting. Now is the time for urban planners to leverage these new opportunities to reduce vehicle miles traveled.

August 28, 2023 - Steven Polzin

Telecommute

D.C., San Francisco Lead Pandemic Work From Home Trend

Remote work increased threefold during the pandemic, but the numbers vary significantly from city to city and region to region. Almost half of D.C.-area employees, for example, worked from home in 2021, according to American Community Survey data.

September 20, 2022 - The Washington Post

Urban Living

D.C. Could Lead the Downtown Office Conversion Trend

Many urban cores around the country are faced with increasing office vacancies concurrently with a housing affordability crisis caused, at least in part, by a lack of supply. D.C. is particularly primed for a wave of adaptive reuse.

August 25, 2022 - Archinect

Los Angeles Downtown Historic Core

Surveying the Rising Trend of Office-to-Residential Conversions

With office vacancies climbing and a stubborn supply crunch driving up the cost of housing, some downtowns have emerged at the forefront of a new wave of adaptive reuse.

August 2, 2022 - CoStar Group News

nyc. subway.

Transit Riders Skipping Mondays

The new commute normal includes far fewer transit rides on Mondays, reflecting new hybrid work schedules that gives workers the options of choosing days to come into the office.

April 11, 2022 - StreetsBlog NYC

California Shelter-in-Place

Two Stories From 2020: Which Is True?

Have all cities lost people due to COVID-19, or just a few high-cost ones?

March 1, 2021 - Michael Lewyn

Hawaii

Teleworking From Paradise

Hawai'i is offering a remote-work program to attract workers from the mainland and help boost the local economy.

December 7, 2020 - U.S. News & World Report

Water Emergency Transportation Authority

Plan Bay Area 2050 Proposes 60% Telecommute Rates for Office Workers

A drastic and unprecedented measure included in the draft Plan Bay Area 2050, released this summer, would require 60 percent of all workers in Bay Area office jobs to telecommute.

October 1, 2020 - Bloomberg CityLab

William Penn

Using Artificial Intelligence to Map Telecommuting Prevalence

In the Philadelphia region, residents of wealthier neighborhoods will be more likely to work from home in the future, thus altering travel patterns and transit usage, according to a new mapping project powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

September 9, 2020 - Smart Cities Dive

Montreal Freeway

Research on the Benefits and Limitations of Telecommuting to Inform a New Transportation Normal

If public transit suffers long-term consequences from the coronavirus, as many experts predict, telecommuting could be a key tool in reducing pollution and congestion, but it creates problems of its own and its effects aren't entirely clear.

May 7, 2020 - Transportation Research Board

Telecommute

Planning Work Continues (Remotely) Amid Pandemic

While cities may be shut down, city planners have not turned off the lights. Planning departments around California, which is mostly on lockdown, have resorted to working from home. Long-range planning could even benefit.

March 25, 2020 - California Planning & Development Report

Empty Subway

New Commute Data: Telecommuting on the Rise

The news from the most recent American Community Survey data isn't entirely bad for advocates hoping that Americans will switch to more efficient, less impactful forms of commuting.

October 18, 2019 - Eno Center for Transportation

110-10 Interchange

Transportation 2019—Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Some thoughts on what we might have learned in 2018 and what it might mean going forward.

January 3, 2019 - Steven Polzin

Empty Subway

Census: Working From Home More Common Than Taking Transit to Work

A more sedentary approach to commuting is now more common than taking the bus or train to work, trailing only driving to work as the most common commute mode.

September 24, 2018 - Governing

Bay Bridge Toll Traffic

Telecommuting Trend Not Decreasing Traffic

Commuting statistics have held consistent, according to Census data, even as the number of people working from home continues to climb.

November 10, 2017 - Governing

Japan

A National Day of Telecommuting

Companies and workers in the country of Japan are less likely to work from home than in the United States. The government hopes to increase the number of telecommuters during the 2020 Olympics, however.

July 25, 2017 - Quartz

workspace

Telecommuting Skews Affluent

Here's a reason to doubt telecommuting as a silver bullet for congestion in growing regions: most people don't have the option.

July 13, 2017 - Quartz

Emergency Sign

The Telemedicine Revolution That Still Hasn't Come

Health care advice can often be given through video or teleconferencing, which saves a great deal of time and money, but most patients still aren't eager to do it.

October 13, 2016 - Chicago Tribune

DC Pope Visit

How the Pope's Visit Reduced Traffic in Washington, D.C.

Pope Francis' much-publicized visit to the capital in late September saw reductions in congestion and better travel times. Event-specific telecommuting policies and transit route changes appear responsible for the minor miracle.

November 12, 2015 - The Washington Post

workspace

More and More Americans Working From Home

In a pattern evident in communities all over the country, U.S. Census data shows more Americans are working from home. Researchers from the Brookings Institution are hoping that planners have noticed the trend.

September 29, 2015 - Brookings Institution

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