1. Topic

2. Introduction

Teleworking

Teleworking makes use of new communication and information technologies for more flexibility in the time and place of work. It is developing considerably across Europe, and has been supported by the European Commission in research and development and in employment policy initiatives. Teleworking has a considerable variety of forms. It includes employees working away from the workplace (e.g. at home) part time or full time, home based work freelancers, home based part time or temporary work as secondary activity, and mobile working neither in the work place nor at home.

Teleshopping – Home Delivery

Online shopping is a fast growing market. Forecasts for total e-commerce and online shopping all show very high growth rates for the coming years. Nevertheless, it is not foreseeable that online shopping will replace traditional commerce in a large proportion. Estimates mention a share of 5-7 % of retail trade by 2005 in Europe and the USA.

3. Discussion

Teleworking

In 1999 the total number of teleworkers in the EU was estimated by the European EcaTT project to be 9 million or 6 % of the workforce. Nordic countries are the most advanced. Status Reports of the Commission predict that European teleworkers will arrive to a 10,8 % of the labour force by 2005. Other forecasts are less optimistic though. The lack of consistent and agreed definitions is a main factor in the different perceptions of the evolution of teleworking.

As for the potential of teleworking to reduce transport, forecasts differ considerably as well, ranging from pessimism to over-optimism. The impact of teleworking on transport demand is related to travellers’ behaviour and to whether transport and telecommunication are substitutes or complements. The question is what teleworkers do with the time they save through teleworking: will this generate new trips? Any measure reducing traffic congestion can at the same time generate new traffic. Therefore it is primordial that telework is part of an integrated sustainable transport strategy. Even if teleworking is not the solution to today’s transport problems, it can help to reinforce other transport related measures in the field of transport demand management, such as traffic calming, parking regulations, access restrictions, and road pricing.

Teleshopping – Home Delivery

At least from a theoretical point of view, it seems quite clear that online shopping could lead to a reduction of transport demand. It is less evident however; whether this reduction could be really significant, given the fact the online shopping will take up only a small share of the market on the medium term. Even on the longer term this is doubtful, as conventional shopping bears other motivations beyond just ‘buying things’, such as social contacts, leisure etc. Still, as shopping trips account for 15 % of the total trips, potential effects on transport congestions are certainly there. Especially the development of online grocery shopping has potential, as this activity occurs much more frequently than other types of shopping. As the e-commerce and online shopping field is still very young, there are more questions than answers at the moment as to whether a significant transport reduction can be obtained. First, it needs to be investigated how much of the e-commerce has actually shifted from conventional shopping because only that share could account for transport demand reduction. An additional question refers to which part of the time saved by online shopping is used to make trips for other purposes. Another issue to be considered is the substitution of personal trips for conventional shopping by home delivery traffic of goods purchased online. “There is a general consensus in considering the delivery services organisation as the crucial issue for online shopping efficiency, not just from an environmental point of view (reducing traffic and emissions), but also from the perspective of economic feasibility of online shopping itself” (see (2) at the end of this document).

4. Recommendation / Conclusion

Teleworking

Studies summarising the findings of surveys and pilot projects on teleworking give some estimates on the effects of transport. The results show shat there are no significant effects of teleworking on non-commuting travel, so that saving in total weekday trips is similar to savings in commuter trips. No effects have been observed on modal split, although some studies do show a reduction in terms of peak-hour trips. Some changes in the spatial distribution of trips have been found, as telecommuters tend to choose destinations closer to home than to work. Telecommuting also seems to bring about a reduction in trips chaining, as the trip to the workplace is eliminated.

A Belgian study looked into the savings in terms of congestion costs and energy consumption, as well as the reduction of some pollutants emissions due to the decrease of commuter trips. The study concludes that teleworking has a potential as a tool for reducing congestion and environmental effects of traffic but that further quantitative and statistical research is required.

Teleshopping – Home Delivery

With online shopping car trips from home to shops are replaced with van trips from distribution centres to home or car trips from home to pick-up points. At this stage, no general conclusions can be drawn yet about the effects on transport flows. Results can be completely different depending on local conditions such as urban structure, location of distribution centres and pick-up points, local transport network, etc. In terms of time, online shopping could contribute to some reduction of traffic peaks.

5. Examples / Further Reading

• How flexible working patterns can help to reduce air pollution - Bristol

6. Additional Documents / Web Links

Teleworking

UK telework case study. Lyons, Hickford, and Smith (1998), taken from ‘A Purchase and A Chain. Impacts of E-Commerce on Transport and the Environment’, Report of Working Group 3 to the European Commission Joint Expert Group on Transport and the Environment, 2001. The study compares the participants travel behaviour “before” and “after” the introduction of the possibility to telework.

Effects on the number of trips and distance travelled

On teleworking days the number of commute trips is 0.2 and the travel distance 8 km. Before the introduction of teleworking the number of commute trips per day was 1.5 and the distance 51 km. Telework doesn’t increase non-commute trips. Another interesting finding of the study is that trips of other household members have not been increased on teleworking days, as could happen due to the increased availability of a car. These two findings counter the hypothesis, which suggests that the adoption of teleworking could result in an increase of other trips. A substantial percentage of the participants indicated that they sometimes teleworked half days. Part-day teleworking does not reduce total transport demand, but can contribute to the reduction of commuter trips at peak hours. From the results of the study, there is no evidence of a shift of commute trips from weekdays to weekends. The authors note that to obtain an estimate of the total effects of telework on transport demand it is necessary to know two variables: the frequency of teleworking and the adoption level. The average frequency of teleworking for the trial is 1.4 days/week. The colleagues of teleworkers were also asked about the acceptable frequency of teleworking. Up to 2 days/week was considered an acceptable frequency by a very large majority. These findings confirm that telework is considered as a part-time working practice. More difficult is to know the adoption level of telework. Definition problems are mentioned again as a reason for that. Taking into consideration the data included in the spring 1997 Labour Force Survey, home workers were a 4% of total employment in Great Britain. According to this figure and assuming a frequency of just 1.2 days/week the authors conclude: Existing teleworking has not made an appreciable impact on the problem of congestion in many urban areas in the United Kingdom and its potential success is therefore reliant upon a marked increase in teleworking uptake... The recruitment process suggests that teleworking uptake will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary…”

Effects on modal split, spatial and time distribution

No effects on modal split were studied due to the sample composition. A possible effect on the spatial distribution of trips was mentioned by the authors, but with very few empirical bases. As home substitutes the workplace, telework could result in a substitution of “suburb to central city work-related trips” by “suburb to suburb work-related trips”. Reducing the peak period traffic is underlined as one of the main effects of telework.

Interesting reading

• ‘Flexible working – eWorking at home. An implementation guide for local authorities in the UK.’, Target project, http://www.eu-target.net/
• eWork in Europe, 9^th European assembly, 25-27/09/03 Paris, France, Conference Proceedings: http://www.ework-in-europe.com/
• Communication on the social and labour market dimension of the information society. People First - The Next Steps, 17th July 1997 version, European Commission: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/employment_social/teleworking_en.htm

Teleshopping – Home Delivery

Magasin de Quartier, Ile-de-France, Paris

The objective of this project is to reduce the number of home deliveries in dense commercial and residential areas by using local delivery depots. The ‘magasins de quartier’ are drop-off zones for transport operators delivering parcels ordered by any kind of communication means. Clients are informed about the availability of their products and can either pick them up or have them delivered at extra cost with non-motorised means of transport.

Source: BESTUFS – Best Practice Handbook Year 2001.E-Commerce and urban freight distribution (1)

More info: cboublil@ccip.fr

Caddy Home

Caddy-Home is the online supermarket for Brussels of Delhaize, a major supermarket chain in Belgium. Clients can order by telephone, fax or through the internet. Purchase products are delivered to the customer’s home at a fixed rate of ca. 7 €, at a day and time chosen by the client when ordering. Some 400 clients per day use caddy-Home. Its effects on urban freight or passenger transport have not been assessed so far.

Source: BESTUFS – Best Practice Handbook Year 2001.E-Commerce and urban freight distribution (1)

More info: http://www.caddyhome.be/

Tele-working – Travel For Work Cambridgeshire

Travel For Work is a partnership between the Cambridgeshire authorities and 57 member employers in Cambridgeshire to address their travel challenges and reduce the costs that travel imposes on the organisation and their staff. The bigger picture is a better environment and quality of life through reduced traffic congestion. The Travel For Work has an elaborated Tele-working strand, with its own website, fora and handbook. More info: www.tfw.org.uk/teleworking

Used Sources for this document:

• ‘Internal Evaluation of the Telework Pilot in the Information Society and Employment DGs of the European Commission’, September 2000
• BESTUFS – Best Practice Handbook Year 2001.E-Commerce and urban freight distribution (1)

• ‘A Purchase and A Chain.’ Impacts of E-Commerce on Transport and the Environment’, Report of Working Group 3 to the European Commission Joint Expert Group on Transport and the Environment, 2001 (2).

Last Updated

25th January 2005