Working from home and its implications for strategic transport modelling based on the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors

David A. Hensher
Matthew J. Beck
Edward Wei

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2021

Subject Area

place - australasia, ridership - commuting, ridership - behaviour, planning - methods

Keywords

CoronavirusCOVID-19, Travel activity, Working from home (WFH), Ordered logit WFH model, Frequency of modal commuting, Zero inflation Poisson Regression (ZIP), Strategic transport models

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we go about our daily lives in ways that are unlikely to return to the pre-COVID-19 levels. A key feature of the COVID-19 era is likely to be a rethink of the way we work and the implications this may have on commuting activity. Working from home (WFH) has been the ‘new normal’ during the period of lockdown, except for essential services that require commuting. In recognition of the new normal as represented by an increasing amount of WFH, this paper develops a model to identify the incidence of WFH and what impact this could have on the amount of weekly one-way commuting trips by car and public transport. Using Wave 1 of an ongoing data collection effort done at the height of the restrictions in March and April 2020 in Australia, we develop a number of days WFH ordered logit model and link it to a zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression model for the number of weekly one-way commuting trips by car and public transport. Scenario analysis is undertaken to highlight the way in which WFH might change the amount of commuting activity when restrictions are relaxed to enable changing patterns of WFH and commuting. The findings will provide one reference point as we continue to undertake similar analysis at different points through time during the pandemic and after when restrictions are effectively removed.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Transportation Research Part A Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

Recommended Citation

Hensher, D.A., Beck, M.J., & Wei, E. (2021). Working from home and its implications for strategic transport modelling based on the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Vol. 148, pp. 64-78.