IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdl/uctcwp/qt0km7985p.html

The Effectiveness of Telecommuting as a Transportation Control Measure

Author

Listed:
  • Sampath, Srikanth
  • Saxena, Somitra
  • Mokhtarian, Patricia L.

Abstract

This paper examines the potential of telecommuting as a strategy for managing travel demand. In particular, the paper focuses on the travel and air quality implications of telecommuting. A study of travel impacts has been carried out using data obtained from the State of California Telecommuting Pilot Project. This paper presents preliminary findings from the first known empirical study of the emission impacts of telecommuting. Previously-reported travel-related findings include significant reductions in work trips, peak-period travel and distance traveled due to telecommuting while no increase was found in non-work trips. New emission-related findings include substantial reductions in the number of cold starts (60% fewer), and emissions of organic gases (64% lower), carbon monoxide (63% lower), and oxides of nitrogen (73% lower) on telecommuting days. These reductions are nearly proportional to the decrease in distance traveled by auto (76%). Work is ongoing to refine and extend the analysis of emission impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Sampath, Srikanth & Saxena, Somitra & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 1991. "The Effectiveness of Telecommuting as a Transportation Control Measure," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt0km7985p, University of California Transportation Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt0km7985p
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0km7985p.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kitamura, Ryuichi & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Pendyala, Ram M., 1991. "An Evaluation of Telecommuting As a Trip Reduction Measure," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt1096f8wt, University of California Transportation Center.
    2. Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 1991. "Telecommuting and Travel: State of the Practice, State of the Art," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt4zc486ph, University of California Transportation Center.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Balepur, Prashant Narayan, 1998. "Impacts of Computer-Mediated Communication on Travel and Communication Patterns: The Davis Community Network Study," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt6cb1f85c, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    2. Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Handy, Susan L. & Salomon, Ilan, 1995. "Methodological issues in the estimation of the travel, energy, and air quality impacts of telecommuting," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 283-302, July.
    3. Shi, Yao & Sorrell, Steven & Foxon, Tim, 2026. "How can we maximize the environmental benefits of teleworking? — A simulation and global sensitivity analysis of English teleworkers," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    4. P L Mokhtarian & I Salomon, 1994. "Modeling the Choice of Telecommuting: Setting the Context," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 26(5), pages 749-766, May.
    5. Bouzaghrane, Mohamed Amine & Obeid, Hassan & Villas-Boas, Sofia B. & Walker, Joan, 2024. "Influence of telecommuting on out-of-home time use and diversity of locations visited: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pengyu Zhu & Liping Wang & Yanpeng Jiang & Jiangping Zhou, 2018. "Metropolitan size and the impacts of telecommuting on personal travel," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 385-414, March.
    2. P L Mokhtarian & I Salomon, 1994. "Modeling the Choice of Telecommuting: Setting the Context," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 26(5), pages 749-766, May.
    3. Shafizadeh, K. & Niemeier, D. & Mokhtarian, P. & Salomon, I., 1998. "The Costs And Benefits Of Telecommuting: An Evaluation Of Macro-scale Literature," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt1f01c191, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    4. Dwi Prasetyanto & Muhamad Rizki & Yos Sunitiyoso, 2022. "Online Learning Participation Intention after COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia: Do Students Still Make Trips for Online Class?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Ben-Elia, Eran & Alexander, Bayarma & Hubers, Christa & Ettema, Dick, 2014. "Activity fragmentation, ICT and travel: An exploratory Path Analysis of spatiotemporal interrelationships," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 56-74.
    6. Sumita Raghuram & Philipp Tuertscher & Raghu Garud, 2010. "Research Note ---Mapping the Field of Virtual Work: A Cocitation Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 983-999, December.
    7. Wang, Xinyi & Kim, Sung Hoo & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2024. "Identifying teleworking-related motives and comparing telework frequency expectations in the post-pandemic world: A latent class choice modeling approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    8. Beck, Matthew J. & Hensher, David A., 2022. "Working from home in Australia in 2020: Positives, negatives and the potential for future benefits to transport and society," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 271-284.
    9. Amir Forouhar & Karen Chapple & Jeff Allen & Byeonghwa Jeong & Julia Greenberg, 2025. "Assessing downtown recovery rates and determinants in North American cities after the COVID-19 pandemic," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 62(6), pages 1209-1231, May.
    10. Margaret Walls & Peter Nelson & Elena Safirova, 2005. "Telecommuting and environmental policy - lessons from the Ecommute program," ERSA conference papers ersa05p801, European Regional Science Association.
    11. Bouzaghrane, Mohamed Amine & Obeid, Hassan & Villas-Boas, Sofia B. & Walker, Joan, 2024. "Influence of telecommuting on out-of-home time use and diversity of locations visited: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    12. Charlie Karlsson & Gunther Maier & Michaela Trippl & Iulia Siedschlag & Gavin Murphy, 2010. "ICT and Regional Economic Dynamics: A Literature Review," JRC Research Reports JRC59920, Joint Research Centre.
    13. Santos, Georgina & Behrendt, Hannah & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2010. "Part II: Policy instruments for sustainable road transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 46-91.
    14. Beck, Matthew J. & Hensher, David A., 2022. "Australia 6 months after COVID-19 restrictions part 2: The impact of working from home," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 274-285.
    15. Glenn Dutcher, E., 2012. "The effects of telecommuting on productivity: An experimental examination. The role of dull and creative tasks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 355-363.
    16. Tri Basuki Joewono & Ari K. M. Tarigan & Muhamad Rizki, 2019. "Segmentation, Classification, and Determinants of In-Store Shopping Activity and Travel Behaviour in the Digitalisation Era: The Context of a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-23, March.
    17. De Borger, Bruno & Wuyts, Bart, 2011. "The structure of the labor market, telecommuting, and optimal peak period congestion tolls: A numerical optimization model," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 426-438, September.
    18. Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2020. "Wenn die Telekommunikation den Verkehr so gut ersetzen kann, warum gibt es dann immer mehr Staus?," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Reutter, Ulrike & Holz-Rau, Christian & Albrecht, Janna & Hülz, Martina (ed.), Wechselwirkungen von Mobilität und Raumentwicklung im Kontext gesellschaftlichen Wandels, volume 14, pages 167-195, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    19. Tang, Wei & Mokhtarian, Patricia L & Handy, Susan L, 2008. "The Role of Neighborhood Characteristics in the Adoption and Frequency of Working at Home: Empirical Evidence from Northern California," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt13x2q3rb, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    20. E. Glenn Dutcher & Krista Jabs Saral, 2012. "The Impact of Beliefs on Effort in Telecommuting Teams," Working Papers 2012-22, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt0km7985p. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: eScholarship, California Digital Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/itucbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.