TRANSPORTATION IMPACTS OF CENTER-BASED TELECOMMUTING - INTERIM FINDINGS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD TELECENTERS PROJECT

The transportation impacts of center-based telecommuting for 24 partic ipants (representing 69 person-days of travel and 295 trips) in the Ca lifornia Neighborhood Telecenters Project are analyzed. Comparing non- telecommuting (NTC) day to telecommuting (TC) day travel shows that pe rson-trips did not change significantly, whereas vehicle-trips increas ed significantly (by about one trip) on TC days. Both PMT and VMT decl ine significantly on TC days: by an average of 68 miles (74%) and 38 m iles (65%), respectively. When these savings are weighted by the frequ ency of telecommuting, overall reductions in PMT and VMT come to 19% a nd 17%, respectively, of total weekday travel. Commute trips increase slightly (by 0.5 trips) but significantly, mainly due to lunch-time tr ips made home from the telecenter. Total non-commute travel does not i ncrease, but there is a significant shift from other modes to driving alone on TC days. Commute mode split on NTC days is not affected by te lecommuting. Travel on TC days tends to be compressed into fewer hours . Higher numbers of return home, eat meal, shopping, and social/recrea tional trips are made on TC days, in exchange for a reduction (to zero ) in the number of change mode trips.