An estimation of total vehicle travel reduction in the case of teleworking. Detailed analyses using an activity-based modeling approach.

Abstract

Transportation Demand Management (TDM) is often referred to as a strategy adopted by transport planners with the goal to increase transport system efficiency. One of the possible measures that can be adopted in TDM is the implementation of telecommuting. A significant number of studies have been conducted in the past to evaluate the effect of telecommuting on peak-period trips. However it is less studied whether telecommuting also effectively and significantly reduces total vehicle travel. For this reason, a conventional modeling approach was adopted in this paper to calculate total kilometers of travel saved in the case telecommuting would materialize in the Flanders area. In a second part, the paper also introduces the use of an activity-based modeling approach to evaluate the effect of telecommuting. By doing so, an operational activity-based framework is externally validated by means of another completely different model, both calibrated for the same application and study area.