Telework frequency and travel behaviour during the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. A study across different Metropolitan Areas: Lisbon, Istanbul, and Porto Alegre

Abstract

Several social distancing measures were adopted during the pandemic (including curfews and mandatory telework) that resulted in substantial changes in travel patterns. Although several studies show that telework does not reduce travel, empirical evidence has been mixed. This work aims to study how telework adoption impacts the number of trips by mode in different metropolitan areas during the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We applied online surveys focused on a 5-day travel-telework diary in the Lisbon (Portugal), Istanbul (Turkey), and Porto Alegre (Brazil) Metropolitan Areas in the early summer of 2021. We build a structural equation model (SEM) to study the influence of previous telework experience on perceptions about telework, and these on telework frequency and the number of trips by mode, and ultimately if is affected by commuting burden, sociodemographic characteristics, and attitudinal issues. The results indicate that more frequent full-day telework reduces the number of trips by all modes (but more by motorised modes) while teleworking part-day increases travel. Moreover, there is no evidence that teleworkers could be undertaking discretionary or maintenance trips from other household members. Finally, these results need to be analysed in the context of the pandemic since social distancing measures were in place.