The Future of Commuting

What are some things to expect for the future of commuting?

Last year was an unpredictable year universally, and although we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, many companies have opted to continue working remotely for the foreseeable future. According to the New York Times, in October of 2020, 73 percent of U.S. employees would prefer not to go back into the office due to fear that returning to work could pose a risk to their personal health.

As a result of the pandemic, companies have re-evaluated the importance of having expensive offices in high-rise city buildings. Major companies and large businesses are now opting for co-working spaces, primarily in suburban areas, allowing employees to have a balance between working at home and in the office.

Nexus Workspaces has plenty of locations and flexible plans throughout Florida. Our most popular plans are the virtual and executive office plans, which provides business owners with the convenience of having both a business address and a private space that best meets your needs and reduces operational costs.

We’ve recently seen an influx of large companies like Amazon, Capital One, Nationwide Insurance, and Facebook switch to long-term remote work, and it is likely many companies will continue to follow.

What does this all mean for the future of commuting? It is most likely going to improve your commute to work, for many reasons!

1. There will be fewer cars on the road if you live in a state like California, New York, or Florida. Tim Lomax, research fellow at Texas A&M Transportation Institute, says, “It will be as though maybe you added a lane each direction in the freeway…This telework phenomenon has shown people that they don’t have to be in the office all the time.”
2. As for the transit systems globally, The Sun magazine from the United Kingdom noted that because most workers in the U.K. are working remotely, their public transit system added a flexible three-day season train ticket for commuters who are only physically in the office three times a week.
3. Some cities have brainstormed alternatives for those who do not want to take public transportation anymore. Cities are reallocating road space incrementally to offer civilians more space to be able to walk to their place of work.
4. Many cities in the U.S. and globally like London, Milan, Bogotá, Paris, and Berlin have all implemented more bike lanes due to civilians not being comfortable yet with taking public transit systems.
5. Cities in the U.S. with big transit systems like New York and Boston have been urgently cleaning their trains a lot more than they used to. The New York MTA states that their subway service is suspended from 2 a.m. through 4 a.m. specifically to disinfect stations and trains.

Although life looks very different than it did one year ago, one thing is for certain- both states and employers are pushing towards this new way of commuting to and from work. This includes implementing more bike lanes, fewer cars on the road, trains being cleaned more frequently, and providing employees with more flexible work options, it seems this trend is here to stay.