The Next L.A. / Reinventing Our Future : Transportation : The Telecommute Alternative

More than 1 million employees in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties already use computers, faxes, modems and phones to work from home on a regular basis. It’s difficult to measure how many cars stay off the roads because most telecommuters have varying schedules. By one estimate, telecommuting removes 30,000 to 45,000 cars from the roadways each day in the tri-county area. Telecommuting allows employers to reduce costs on offices and parking. A recent survey of more than 2,000 commuters found that 9% worked out of their homes about four days a week.

Futurist Alvin Toffler is a big advocate of telecommuting, which he thinks will go a long way toward easing Los Angeles’ traffic problems. He sees electronic communication replacing the need to jump in a car and drive to a workplace. He also argues that “companies will begin to realize the hidden costs of concentration their work forces” in a few locations. When workers are redistributed in dispersed locations, companies save money on parking, cafeterias and medical facilities, among other costs.

But telecommuting is not for everyone. Assembly workers, for instance, need to be at a factory. Also, old patterns die hard. Although telecommuting rose sharply immediately after the Bay Area quake, it eventually lost its luster for many workers and their employers.