Our Work

Post-pandemic travel continues to evolve with telework adoption and hybrid work arrangements that keep people connected to the workplace, and with many employers requiring staff to return to the office for a portion of the week.

Additionally, there are people who rely on the transportation systems to get to school and take care of their daily needs that have not consistently been reflected in citywide data reporting. These trips are crucial to those who are trying to make ends meet, and also comprise a significant share of demand on roadways and the transit system.

For the transportation system to support the various types of trips for how people now travel, better data and insights are needed.

Hybrid work and new mobility options have changed how and when people travel. Understanding these trends and insights will also guide transportation agencies and service providers to support emerging commute patterns and travel behaviors. 

Building off the success of the 2022 Seattle Commute Study, this project will capture commute and non-commute trips in a way that is easier for people in workplaces to participate that provide valuable data and insights. 

Commute Seattle has partnered with Seattle Department of Transportation to conduct Seattle’s Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Survey. In 2022, Commute Seattle and SDOT expanded the partnership in collaboration with University of Washington to gather mode split and travel decision data after the strictest COVID-19 public health measures were lifted but prior to some of the most significant return-to-office policies had been implemented. As policies and mobility options have evolved, the question remains: how are Seattle commuters getting to work and using the system for non-work trips?  

Since office policies have remained in motion, it is pivotal to collect consistent and comparable mobility data to assess how the evolution of policies has impacted Seattle’s commuters. This survey aims to expand the surveyed audience and include more robust response numbers from post-secondary students, small business employees, and the Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) population. These groups each represent large, diverse populations that are making similar mobility decisions to CTR employees, but, as they are not required to survey, have not been adequately represented in previous mode splits. 

Project findings will be available in Spring 2025 

• Provide an understanding of why people working in similar industries in the city of Seattle have different travel behavior and inform employers and government to manage demand across different modes. 

• Identify the share of car ownership and provide insight as to whether climate action influences commute decisions. 

• Establish a statistically valid model to detect and understand travel modes by commuters within the city, including trips reduced by telework and flexible scheduling. 

This work is supported by Commute Seattle with funding committed by the Downtown Transportation Alliance (DTA) partners, the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), City of Seattle DOT, King County Metro, and Sound Transit. 

UW Urban Design & Planning, College of Built Environments 

Hoseok Sa, research assistant, UW Urban Design and Planning 

Lamis Ashour, research assistant, UW Urban Design and Planning 

Bart Treece, director, Mobility Innovation Center