Abstract
This study explores shifts in travel patterns amid the rise of home-based teleactivities – defined here as activities traditionally conducted outside the home but increasingly performed at home through digital technological applications, such as working from home, telehealth, e-learning, livestream sales). As the world transitions into a post-pandemic “new normal,” individuals and business operations are adopting various forms of tele-modality, prompting strong interest in understanding their travel implications. Conceptually, teleactivity participation can generate both substitution and complementary effects: while telecommuting reduced work-related travel, time saved could also be added to non-work trips. Empirical knowledge on these two effects, however, remains mixed and limited. This study aims to fill the gap, taking a unique approach by integrating data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and the U.S. National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) for the years of 2017 (before the pandemic) and 2022 (after the pandemic). Specific travel behavior this study is focused on include activity-travel time use and vehicle miles of travel (VMT) and the variations of these behavior associated with various levels of teleactivity participation and between diverse socioeconomic population groups across different spatial settings. The study is expected to gain valuable empirical insights informative to travel demand analysis and transportation planning, business operations, and urban land use policy.
Keywords: Teleactivity; Travel behavior; Time use analysis; American Time Use Survey (ATUS); U.S. National Household Travel Survey (NHTS)