Commuting Trends During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Maryland
For transportation authorities, understanding commuters’ travel behavior is key to manage travel demand, coordinate the multimodal transportation system, and provide adequate and equitable mobility to all. It is particularly vital to investigate into shifts in commuting patterns during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic when offices and businesses were physically closed due to public health concerns. To inform transportation policymakers and stakeholders about travel behavior changes during the pandemic and to provide forward-looking insights into a post-pandemic future, the authors surveyed Maryland residents online in spring 2021. In this study, the authors focus on analyzing commuting patterns of 459 employed respondents. The results reveal that teleworking has become a new trend to replace physical commutes during different phases of the pandemic. However, tele-workability varies significantly by subpopulations and industries. In addition, while people stated increased interest in teleworking in the post-pandemic future, they are most likely to continue to drive to/from work. There is also a growing awareness of the environmental and health factors in the choice of the primary mode of transportation. The results offer significant policy implications on technology preparedness for teleworking and new mobility options, as well as the important equity perspectives.
- Record URL:
-
Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AEP30 Standing Committee on Traveler Behavior and Values.
-
Authors:
- Zou, Zhenpeng
- Shokputov, Alibi
- Erdoğan, Sevgi
-
Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 101st Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2022-1-9 to 2022-1-13
- Date: 2022
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 23p
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Commuting; COVID-19; Telecommuting; Trend (Statistics)
- Geographic Terms: Maryland
- Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01852284
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: TRBAM-22-03464
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Jul 21 2022 11:39AM