Impacts of remote work on vehicle miles traveled and transit ridership in the USA

The potential of remote work as a sustainable mobility solution has garnered attention, particularly due to its widespread adoption during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Our study systematically examines the impacts of remote work on vehicle miles traveled and transit ridership in the USA from April 2020 to October 2022. Here we find that, using the prepandemic levels as the baselines, a mere 1% decrease in onsite workers corresponds to a 0.99% reduction in state-level vehicle miles traveled and a 2.26% drop in metropolitan statistical area-level transit ridership. Notably, a 10% decrease in onsite workers compared with the prepandemic level could yield a consequential annual reduction of 191.8 million metric tons (10%) in CO2 emissions from the transportation sector, alongside a substantial US$3.7 billion (26.7%) annual loss in transit fare revenues within the contiguous USA. These findings offer policymakers crucial insights into how different remote work policies can impact urban transport and environmental sustainability as remote work continues to persist. This study assesses the effects of working-from-home on vehicle miles traveled and transit ridership during the pandemic and finds a direct and negative relationship between them: a 1% decrease in onsite workers corresponds to a 0.99% decrease in vehicle miles traveled and a 2.26% decrease in transit ridership.