Does Telecommuting Reduce Travel? A Swedish Investigation of the Expected Substitution Effect

Abstract

For a long time, telecommuting has been expected to affect the aggregated travel pattern. A number of cause‐effect relationships between telecommuting and travel have been identified in literature concerning different types of trip with both decreased and increased travel as the outcome. To explore how telecommuting affects travel and travel patterns in Sweden an empirical study was conducted. The most important cause‐effect relationship concerns three categories: work‐trips, non‐work‐related trips and combination trips. The travel pattern, which is based on the telecommuter's regularity of trips, the point in time for different types of trip and the travel mode used, is also studied. The present results are compared with international findings, with the aim to create better understanding of how telecommuting affects the telecommuter's travel pattern and approximately estimate the magnitude of the travel impact. Finally, there is a contextual discussion concerning the probable total travel effects of telecommuting.