Work from Home Travel Behavior Synthesis

Research Team: Brian Taylor (lead) and Samuel Speroni

UC Campus(es): UCLA

Problem Statement: Working from home increased dramatically at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic and has declined only modestly since then. This massive shift in work location has significantly affected commuting patterns, peak period travel and, especially, public transit use (which carries a larger share of journey-to-work trips than other travel modes). Accordingly, how many workers continue to work from home full- or part-time in the years ahead has important implications for travel patterns broadly, and the recovery of public transit use in particular.

Project Description: The researchers will carefully review and synthesize the research on working from home and its effects on travel behavior. While most of the research reviewed will concern pre-pandemic travel, they will also examine recent papers on pandemic working from home and travel, including the gray literature (materials and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels) on this latter topic. Synthesizing this research will give decision makers a clearer understanding of how the increase in working from home is affecting travel broadly and transit use in particular today, and insight on how it might be expected to do so into the future.

Status: In Progress

Budget: $5,142