Chapter 9 - Work from home: A potential long-lasting legacy of COVID-19

Abstract

Arguably one of the most long-lasting legacies of COVID-19 will be the diffusion of working from home (WFH). The separation of work and home is a product of the Industrial Revolution, and commuting culture was established by the development of rail-based public transport in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The office culture as we know today was established by the middle of the 20th century. By the pandemic, diffusion of computers to households and readiness of various IT tools had reached to a point enabling the diffusion of WFH. Public transport will have to address this new normalcy with the transformation into a new commuting culture, which is an ongoing and dynamic process. It means that public transport has to rethink its balance between commuting tool and more general means of transport to serve as a sustainable and more efficient mode of transport.