State of the Commute Survey Revealed Changes
Results of the 2022 State of the Commute survey are out, and they contain some interesting takeaways. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) conducts the region-wide survey every three years, so this is the first post-pandemic edition. (Links: Digital | PDF)
Why It Matters
The survey documents trends in commuting patterns and explores workers’ awareness and use of regional transportation infrastructure and information and assistance services. It also collects commuters’ opinions about current transportation initiatives. Local governments and planners use the data to help shape future programs.
Working Remotely Boomed
- Thanks largely to the pandemic, working from home (what transportation professionals call “telework”) exploded.
- In 2022, 2.14 million regional workers teleworked at least occasionally. This represented a near doubling of regional teleworkers. The 66% telework percentage is almost double the 2019 percentage of 35%. Telework incidence grew in every demographic and occupational segment.
- Alas, driving alone to work also increased, with 41.2% of commute trips made by driving alone (including taxi/ridehail service), while use of alternative travel modes fell as a share of commute trips.
- The remaining commute days/trips were divided into 7.8% transit, 1.7% carpool/ vanpool, and 1.7% bike/walk.
Deeper Dive on Telework
- The survey found that an additional 9% of all commuters “could and would” telework if given the opportunity. (These people said they did not telework, but could perform some or all their job responsibilities at a location away from the main workplace and they would like to telework.)
- More than nine in ten (92%) respondents who were teleworking at the time of the survey said they would want to telework at least one day per week, and 39% said they would want to telework all their workdays.
- Only 2% of teleworkers were not interested in continuing to telework at all.
Distance & Dissatisfaction
- The average commute distance of survey respondents who commuted to outside work locations dipped from 17.1 miles in 2019 to 16.9 miles in 2022.
- Commute satisfaction declined dramatically as commute time increased. Nine in ten survey respondents who commuted 10 minutes or less rated their satisfaction a 4 or 5. Satisfaction dropped to 59% when the commute was between 21 to 30 minutes. And when travel time exceeded 60 minutes, only 17% rated their commute a 4 or 5.
- Yet, 26% of respondents said their commute was more difficult than one year ago.
- More difficult commutes were far more common among train riders (50%), bus commuters (42%), and those who commuted more than 45 minutes to work (39%).
- Train station access was less convenient; only 19% lived less than one mile from a train station.
Many Commuters Still Happy
- Twenty-four percent said their commute was easier.
- Respondents who primarily teleworked, carpooled/vanpooled, or drove alone to work, and those whose commutes were short, were particularly likely to report an easier commute than last year.
- While about one-quarter of respondents said they did not know how far they lived from the bus stop and train station, 44% said they lived less than one-half mile from a bus stop, and 53% said they lived less than one mile away.
A Lesson for Employers & County Planners
- The proximity of a location to transportation services turns out to be very important.
- More than half (52%) of respondents who made a home or work location change considered how close their new location would be to transportation services.
- Such services included park & ride lots, HOV/express lanes, protected bike lanes, transit stations/stops, and bikeshare and carshare services.
“Telework definitely dominated as the ‘commute mode’ of choice, but the reason carpooling and transit lost some ground is that when people did go in — typically one or two days a week — they drove,” said Nicholas Ramfos, MWCOG’s director of transportation operations programs.
“Biking and walking actually stayed about the same,” he added, “but employers have subsidized parking just to try to get their people back working in person, and we’ve long known that free parking is effectively an incentive to drive.”
The reason cycling and walking remained fairly consistent could be because people who live close enough to their offices, such as in the downtown Bethesda area, could leave their car at home and bike or walk when necessary.
