A recent study by researchers from the University of Florida, MIT, and Peking University looked into remote work and its impact on carbon emissions and public transit revenues. They used data collected since the pandemic started to see how cities could meet their sustainability goals by promoting remote work.

Here’s what they found: If 10% more people worked from home, there would be 10% less carbon emissions from transportation, which means nearly 200 million tons less CO2 each year across the U.S. This is because there would be fewer car trips.

Reduced revenue

But there’s a downside too: If the same number of people worked from home, it would lead to a big drop in transit fare revenue—$3.7 billion less nationwide, which is a 27% decrease. This is a problem for public transit systems already struggling financially because of fewer commuters.

Right now, about 14% of workers only work from home. But surveys suggest that up to half of all workers might start working remotely at least some of the time.

In short, this study shows that remote work can help cut carbon emissions, but it also brings challenges for public transit finances. As cities and policymakers figure out how to balance these issues, they’ll need to think carefully about promoting remote work while keeping public transit strong.

“Transit agencies need to be very concerned,” the researchers explain. “Yet overall we would expect less energy consumption from reduced car travel. So the picture is very complicated, and whether the effects are positive or negative depends on the stakeholder.”

Easing traffic problems

Urban planners have long thought about remote work as a solution to ease traffic jams and cut down on carbon emissions. But before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was hard to study the impact of remote work because not many people were doing it. The sudden surge in remote work caused by the pandemic finally gave researchers a chance to see how it affects city transportation.

The new study looked at data from April 2020 to October 2022, using information from Google to track remote work patterns, data from the Federal Highway Administration for car travel, and a national database for transit ridership. By comparing transportation habits with the rise and fall of remote work in different states and cities, the researchers could see how remote work affects car travel and public transit.

What they found was that public transit use dropped more than twice as fast as car travel when the number of people working on-site decreased.

“People mostly rely on transit to go to work. When people start to work from home, their need to commute is largely reduced. So, a large portion of transit ridership was no longer needed,” the authors explain.

“On the other hand, many people rely on vehicles for trips other than going to work. They go shopping, they go to restaurants and leisure activities. Those activities may not necessarily disappear when people work from home.”