RESUMEN
This study focuses on an important transport-related long-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: an increase in telecommuting. Analyzing a nationally representative panel survey of adults, we find that 40-50% of workers expect to telecommute at least a few times per month post-pandemic, up from 24% pre-COVID. If given the option, 90-95% of those who first telecommuted during the pandemic plan to continue the practice regularly. We also find that new telecommuters are demographically similar to pre-COVID telecommuters. Both pre- and post-COVID, higher educational attainment and income, together with certain job categories, largely determine whether workers have the option to telecommute. Despite growth in telecommuting, approximately half of workers expect to remain unable to telecommute and between 2/3 and 3/4 of workers expect their post-pandemic telecommuting patterns to be unchanged from their pre-COVID patterns. This limits the contribution telecommuting can make to reducing peak hour transport demand.
RESUMEN
Understanding people's travel behavior is necessary for achieving goals such as increased bicycling and walking, decreased traffic congestion, and adoption of clean-fuel vehicles. To understand underlying motivations, researchers increasingly are adding subjective variables to models of travel behavior. This article presents a systematic review of 158 such studies. Nearly every reviewed article finds subjective variables to be predictive of transport outcomes. However, the 158 reviewed studies include 2864 distinct subjective survey questions. This heterogeneity makes it difficult to reach definitive conclusions about which subjective variables are most important for which transport outcomes. In addition to heterogeneity, challenges of this literature also include an unclear direction of causality and tautological relationships between some subjective variables and behavior. Within the constraints imposed by these challenges, we attempt to evaluate the explanatory power of subjective variables, which subjective variables matter most for which transport choices, and whether the answers to these questions vary between continents. To reduce heterogeneity in future studies, we introduce the Standardized Transport Attitude Measurement Protocol, which identifies a curated set of subjective questions. We have also developed an open-access database of the reviewed studies, including all subjective survey questions and models, with an interactive, searchable interface.
RESUMEN
Human behavior is notoriously difficult to change, but a disruption of the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to bring about long-term behavioral changes. During the pandemic, people have been forced to experience new ways of interacting, working, learning, shopping, traveling, and eating meals. A critical question going forward is how these experiences have actually changed preferences and habits in ways that might persist after the pandemic ends. Many observers have suggested theories about what the future will bring, but concrete evidence has been lacking. We present evidence on how much US adults expect their own postpandemic choices to differ from their prepandemic lifestyles in the areas of telecommuting, restaurant patronage, air travel, online shopping, transit use, car commuting, uptake of walking and biking, and home location. The analysis is based on a nationally representative survey dataset collected between July and October 2020. Key findings include that the "new normal" will feature a doubling of telecommuting, reduced air travel, and improved quality of life for some.
