Impacts of COVID-19 on Future Preferences Toward Telework

This paper presents a study in capturing the impacts of the mandatory pandemic-induced telework practice on workers' perceptions of the benefits, challenges, and difficulties associated with telecommuting and how those might influence their preference for telework in the future. Data was collected through an online survey conducted in South Florida in May 2020. Survey data showed that telework indices (either measured through actual behavior or stated preference) before, during, and after the pandemic were heterogeneous across socio-economic, demographic, and attitudinal segments. Before the outbreak, males, full-time students, those with PhD degrees, and high-income people showed higher percentages of involvement in jobs with a telework option. They also had higher pro-technology, pro-online education, workaholic, and pro-telework attitudes. During the pandemic, professional/managerial/technical jobs as well as jobs with lower physical-proximity measures showed the highest telework frequency. In view of future telework preferences, our analysis showed that those who were more pro-telework, pro-technology, and showed less dislike of telework dislike preferred higher telework frequency. A structural equation model was developed to assess the impacts of different predictors on telework behavior before the pandemic and preferences after the pandemic. While telework frequency before the pandemic was highly affected by the pro-telework attitude, the after-pandemic preferences were influenced by several other attitudes such as dislike telework, enjoy interaction, workaholic, as well as productivity factors. This might confirm the assumption that the mandatory practice through the pandemic has provided employees more experiences with work-from-home arrangements, which could reshape decisions and expectations around telework adoption in the future. © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2021.

Equity Implications of Ride-Hail Travel during COVID-19 in California.

COVID-19 has shocked every system in the U.S., including transportation. In the first months of the pandemic, driving and transit use fell far below normal levels. Yet people still need to travel for essential purposes like medical appointments, buying groceries, and-for those who cannot work from home-to work. For some, the pandemic may exacerbate extant travel challenges as transit agencies reduce service hours and frequency. As travelers reevaluate modal options, it remains unclear how one mode-ride-hailing-fits into the transportation landscape during COVID-19. In particular, how does the number of ride-hail trips vary across neighborhood characteristics before versus during the pandemic? And how do patterns of essential trips pre-pandemic compare with those during COVID-19? To answer these questions, we analyzed aggregated Uber trip data before and during the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic across four regions in California. We find that during these first months, ride-hail trips fell at levels commensurate with transit (82%), while trips serving identified essential destinations fell by less (62%). Changes in ride-hail use were unevenly distributed across neighborhoods, with higher-income areas and those with more transit commuters and higher shares of zero-car households showing steeper declines in the number of trips made during the pandemic. Conversely, neighborhoods with more older (aged 45+) residents, and a greater proportion of Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Asian residents still appear to rely more on ride-hail during the pandemic compared with other neighborhoods. These findings further underscore the need for cities to invest in robust and redundant transportation systems to create a resilient mobility network.

Effects of COVID-19 on Telework and Commuting Behavior: Evidence from 3 Years of Panel Data.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced employers and employees to re-evaluate their attitudes toward telecommuting. This induced a change in the sheer number of people who have started to work from home (WFH). While previous studies highlight differences between telecommuters based on their level of telecommuting experience, these effects have not been studied in detail. This may limit the evaluation of implications for post-pandemic times and the transferability of models and predictions based on data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study expands on previous findings by comparing the characteristics and behavior of those who have started to telecommute during the pandemic and those who had already telecommuted before. Furthermore, this study addresses the uncertainty that exists about whether the findings of studies conducted before the pandemic-for example about sociodemographic characteristics of telecommuters-still hold true, or if the pandemic induced a shift in telecommuters' profiles. Telecommuters show differences when considering their previous experience in WFH. The results of this study suggest that the transition induced by the pandemic was more drastic for new telecommuters compared with experienced telecommuters. The COVID-19 pandemic had an effect on how household configurations are considered in the choice to WFH. With decreased access to child care resulting from school closings, people with children in the household were more likely to choose to telecommute during the pandemic. Also, while people living alone are generally less likely to choose to WFH, this effect was reduced as a result of the pandemic.

Longitudinal Analysis of COVID-19 Impacts on Mobility: An Early Snapshot of the Emerging Changes in Travel Behavior.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge disruption worldwide with direct and indirect effects on travel behavior. In response to extensive community spread and potential risk of infection, during the early stage of the pandemic many state and local governments implemented non-pharmaceutical interventions that restricted non-essential travel for residents. This study evaluates the impacts of the pandemic on mobility by analyzing micro panel data (N = 1,274) collected in the United States via online surveys in two periods, before and during the early phase of the pandemic. The panel makes it possible to observe initial trends in travel behavior change, adoption of online shopping, active travel, and use of shared mobility services. This analysis intends to document a high-level overview of the initial impacts to spur future research to dive deeper into these topics. With the analysis of the panel data, substantial shifts are found from physical commutes to teleworking, more adoption of e-shopping and home delivery services, more frequent trips by walking and biking for leisure purposes, and changes in ridehailing use with substantial variations across socioeconomic groups. The social and environmental implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for effective policy and directions for future research are made in the conclusion.