Intermediate activities while commuting

Abstract Recent analyses have shown that commutes to and from work are not symmetric, suggesting that intermediate activities are at the root of the asymmetries. However, to model how these activities accumulate and interact within trips to and from work is a methodologically unexplored issue. We analyze the intermediate activities done while commuting, using data from the American Time Use Survey for the period 2003–2019. We show that commuting as defined in Time Use Surveys is underestimated, with significant differences that depend on whether intermediate activities are considered. Such differences are especially important in commuting from work to home and reveal gender differences. Our results contribute to the analysis of commuting behavior by proposing new identification strategies based on intermediate non-trip episodes, and by showing how commuting interacts with other non-commuting activities. We also explore intermediate episodes during commuting, which may partially explain gender differences in commuting time.