Teleworking and its impacts on mobility in the Region of Madrid

Because of restrictions caused by COVID-19, new trends such as teleworking or e-learning have emerged. These new trends have a direct impact on the generation and attraction of trips, affecting mobility. This work analyzes what that impact is in the Region of Madrid, where more than three million people work. According to the Spanish National Statistics Institute, 18% of the Spanish population teleworked in 2021, increasing this percentage to 35% in the Region of Madrid. Through a three-step methodology that combines information from three different data sources, it is possible to analyze the teleworking rate associated with each branch of activity and estimating teleworking rates in the different zones of the Region. According to the results, in the central zones of the Region there are activities with a higher teleworking rate, which gives rise to higher reductions in the number of trips. For example, in the case of the city of Madrid, teleworking rate is 30%, which is consistent with the reduction of trips (27%). By contrast, in outer zones where teleworking rates are lower (20%), the reduction of trips is not so high (10%). This work serves as a basis for the proposal of strategies and policies concerning teleworking, adapting them to the employment characteristics of each zone of study.