Huang Zhiran, Loo Becky P Y, Axhausen Kay W
Department of Geography, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
School of Geography and Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, China.
Travel Behav Soc. 2023 Jan;30:202-211. doi: 10.1016/j.tbs.2022.09.006. Epub 2022 Sep 30.
Life, including working style and travel behaviour, has been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The unprecedented number of work-from-home (WFH) employees after the outbreak of COVID-19 has attracted much scholarly attention. As it is generally believed that WFH arrangements are not ephemeral, it is imperative to study the impacts of WFH on travel behaviour and its impact on sustainable transport in the post-pandemic era. In relation, this study uses a set of longitudinal GPS tracking data in Switzerland to examine changes in trip characteristics (i.e. travel distance, travel time), travel behaviours (i.e. travel frequency, peak hour departure, trip destination, travel mode), and activities (i.e. trip pattern diversity, trip purpose, and time spent at home). Two groups of participants (WFH and Non-WFH) are identified and compared through three periods (pre-COVID, during lockdown, and post lockdown) from September 2019 to October 2020. Results show that more significant reductions of trip distance, travel time, travel frequency, morning peak hours trips, trips to the CBD are observed among the WFH group. These changes helped to mitigate negative transport externalities. Meanwhile, active transport trips, trip pattern diversity, leisure trips, and time spent at home also increased more significantly for the WFH group when compared to their counterparts. Hence, promoting WFH may not only be beneficial to teleworkers but also to the wider community through more sustainable transport. Future research direction and policy implications are also discussed.
生活，包括工作方式和出行行为，已被新冠疫情严重扰乱。新冠疫情爆发后，史无前例数量的员工居家办公（WFH）引起了众多学术关注。由于人们普遍认为居家办公安排并非短暂现象，因此研究居家办公对出行行为的影响及其在疫情后时代对可持续交通的影响势在必行。与此相关，本研究使用瑞士的一组纵向全球定位系统（GPS）跟踪数据，来考察出行特征（即出行距离、出行时间）、出行行为（即出行频率、高峰时段出发、出行目的地、出行方式）和活动（即出行模式多样性、出行目的以及在家停留时间）的变化。从2019年9月到2020年10月，通过三个时期（新冠疫情前、封锁期间和封锁后）识别并比较了两组参与者（居家办公组和非居家办公组）。结果表明，居家办公组的出行距离、出行时间、出行频率、早高峰时段出行以及前往中央商务区（CBD）的出行减少更为显著。这些变化有助于减轻负面交通外部性。与此同时，与非居家办公组相比，居家办公组的主动出行、出行模式多样性、休闲出行以及在家停留时间也增加得更为显著。因此，推广居家办公不仅可能对远程工作者有益，而且通过更可持续的交通对更广泛的社区也有益。还讨论了未来的研究方向和政策含义。
