State pilot study could lead to incentives for telecommuting

A state-funded regional program starting in January to analyze working from home to cut traffic congestion could lead to permanent incentives for telecommuters. First results are expected early in 2023.

Miami-Dade’s Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) and South Florida Commuter Services are leading the charge to see if telecommuting can become a long-term strategy to trim congestion.

For the $50,000 pilot study, 147 of 535 applicants were picked to work from home. Commuter Services is to analyze details they provide about any changing sentiments over about a year and how they might impact vehicle miles driven.

Once pilot results are in by year’s end, TPO is to sift the data and determine if policies or conditions are needed to encourage and expand opportunities for workers in different industries to telecommute, Aileen Bouclé, TPO director, told Miami Today.

“If there’s anything that we can set forth as a policy or assist in providing the ideal conditions, we will come back to the board with that information and seek their input and guidance on any appropriate policies,” she said.

Jeremy Mullings, pilot program head and director of the South Florida Commuter Services, which is funded by the Florida Department of Transportation, told the newspaper that the first steps in the initiative came in spring with research on what types of work might benefit from telecommuting.

Then the state organization looked for participants until it handpicked the group that is to be studied throughout 2022. Most of them work in the private sector.

“We went with a nice, even distribution or something that’s symbolic of what the general population is made up of,” Mr. Mullings said.

As Miami Today reported in February, Miami-Dade tested telework and flex schedules with 264 county employees in 2009 and found that while most enjoyed their new schedules, congestion reduction would be “negligible” if only government workers take part.

A January 2021 report by the TPO and consultant Kittelson&Associates studied Miami-Dade telecommuting and recommended the pilot program, recognizing remote workers as a commuter group in transportation and land use plans, building broadband infrastructure to support remote work, and investing in projects that include telework.

As a result, TPO is to acknowledge telecommuters as a distinct commuter group in its long-range transportation plan to be updated next year for 2050 goals.

“If we can acknowledge a certain percent of the commuter workforce on any given day is a telecommute group, then we can model our network that way,” Ms. Bouclé said.

“Our goal was really a regional effort for us to get the most out of telecommuting. We want to have a wide spread, so this is a regional effort that includes Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County,” said Tewary Edmonson, TPO transportation planner who led the predecessor study and is working on the pilot program.

Although TPO is a Miami-Dade organization and the pilot program focuses on Miami-Dade traffic levels, Broward and Palm Beach would benefit too from congestion reduction, Ms. Bouclé said.

Once the pilot ends, a permanent program from the TPO could incentivize telecommuting in the county. Said Ms. Bouclé, “We may find ourselves with a permanent telecommuting program and other incentivizing policies.”