Telework, everyday activities and mobility

In France, as in many countries across the world, a shift towards telework is occurring and will likely continue long after the pandemic. Post-pandemic telework will probably have massive but still unclear implications for the way people live and work, and then travel (geography of trips, trip frequency, transport modes used, etc.). This communication presents some preliminary results of an ongoing research project on the impacts of the growth of home-based teleworking on teleworkers’ everyday activities (work, accompaniment of children, shopping, etc.) and mobility patterns in France. Data come from a survey of about 1,000 teleworkers, conducted online from March to April 2022. Results show that the adoption of home-based teleworking encourages individuals to reschedule some of their activities and trips. We also observe that the frequency of some activities, such as shopping in local shops, leisure and accompanying children, tends to increase. More generally, the adoption of telework is positively associated with more activities and trips in the neighborhood, and a reduction of car use and vehicle miles traveled. Finally, changes are more important as the frequency of teleworking increases, while there seems to be no difference between “new”and “old” teleworkers. However, rebound effects, such as new housing preferences, are not to be excluded.

Anne Aguilera is a Civil Engineer. She has a PhD in Transportation Economics and is currently senior researcher at the City, Mobility and Transport Laboratory (LVMT), an interdisciplinary research laboratory of the University Gustave Eiffel and Ecole des Ponts. Her research interests are the impacts of the growing use of information and communication technologies (ICT), such as teleworking, online shopping, autonomous vehicles, bike-sharing systems and carpooling apps, on individuals’ travel behavior. Her recent book, “Urban mobility and the smartphone”, was published in 2018 by Elsevier.