Natalia VELLA, University of Malta, Malta
Maria ATTARD, University of Malta, Malta
The use of teleworking has long been encouraged to reduce everyday travel. While many studies suggest that telework decreases travel, other studies suggest the opposite. Telework has grown steadily in many countries however in the islands of Malta many still worked in offices or work premises. In 2019, only 11.7% of the islands’ workforce worked from home. Since the beginning of the pandemic however, individuals’ lifestyles and work patterns shifted drastically with many businesses starting to function online when each state, including Malta experienced lockdown and movement restrictions in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. This study investigates travel behaviour outcomes of teleworkers in the islands by looking at the employees of the University of Malta. This study examines the impact of home-based teleworking on the number of weekly trips, by capturing travel behaviour during teleworking days. The University of Malta is the only publicly funded university and employs over 3,000 staff. The results suggest that teleworking does reduce commuting trips to and from work but it is not a highly effective strategy to reduce overall travel. Results show that home-based teleworking did not decrease everyday travel, indeed the more people teleworked, the more trips they made for non-work purposes.
Mots clés : teleworking|travel demand management|travel behaviour|university campus|Malta
A102882MA