Implications of Commuting Behaviors in Baltimore Region and Beyond
Introduction to 2023 Transportation Report Card
The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance is in the process of preparing the 2023 Transportation Report Card. The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance publishes the Transportation Report Card every three years to assess the progress of transportation in the Baltimore region and beyond. The Alliance uses the Report Card as a blueprint for elected officials and policymakers that indicates which areas of transportation need improvement, whether it be to improve safety, the environment, or the functionality of transportation.
The 2023 Transportation Report Card will include research we conducted that evaluates commute patterns among the working public during the 2014 through 2021 period. In our analysis, we gathered commuting data on twenty metropolitan regions in the U.S. that had populations similar to the Baltimore Metro region and used 5-year estimates for the years 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2021. In our analysis, we used Metropolitan Statistical Areas. We answered questions such as the following: In which region did telecommuting increased the most? In which region did biking, walking, and transit use decrease the most? And, in which region did driving alone and working from home decreased the most?
What Were the Results?
Source: US Census Bureau
According to the US Census Bureau, the percentage of commuters who worked from home increased the most from 2014 through 2021 in the Austin and Seattle regions. Also, the percentage of commuters who drove alone, decreased the most in the Charlotte and Minneapolis regions during the same time period. Surprisingly, commuters who walked, biked, and used transit decreased the most in the Portland and Seattle regions alongside Baltimore, Salt Lake City and Sacramento regions. The major difference gleaned from the data is that telecommuting increased in every metropolitan region while the percentage of commuters who drove alone and walk, biked, and used transit decreased. There were larger decreases of commuters who drove alone than commuters walking, biking and using transit; however, the decrease in the latter is surprising, especially in transit-oriented regions such as Austin, Seattle, and Portland.
What Are the Implications?
If we were to repeat this in three years or so, I would watch to see if telecommuting continues to grow as a share of overall commuting. Based on this analysis, I should expect teleworking to continue to rise while commuters driving to work will gradually decrease, and walking, biking and using transit will remain the same. Although the change in teleworking between 2014 and 2019 slightly increased, the COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for the marked rise in teleworking between 2019 and 2021. During the pandemic offices were forced to close and workers worked from home to prevent the spread of COVID. Since then, workers enjoyed the benefits of working from home such as being with their families and not having to commute to the office. In light of these benefits, workers are likely to continue to work from home, especially newer generations entering the workforce and demanding more work-life balance.
Also, changes in zoning and land use policies such as mixed-use development and transit oriented development are likely to take place in the future. Due to the harmful impacts of sprawl due to auto-dependent development, planners are finding alternative development patterns that induce sustainable commuting practices such as walking, biking, riding transit. One strategy planners are looking to is having jobs to be located closer to where people live — or 15-minute cities. Although more workers will walk or bike to their jobs, they will opt to work from home some of the time because it is convenient. Therefore, the change in commuters walking or biking to work will not budge much and driving to work will likely decrease.
