The time of the home office obligation is over. In rush-hour traffic, however, this was not noticeable in the past week. This is probably also due to the fact that many people continue to work from home.
The end of the home office requirement last Sunday has no major impact on commuter traffic.
An analysis of traffic data by the mapping specialist TomTom for the German Press Agency showed that in the majority of 26 large German cities and regions, congestion levels were comparable to those before the abolition. Sometimes there was even less traffic jam. “The lifting of the home office obligation has not led to an increase in morning rush hour traffic,” said Ralf-Peter Schäfer from TomTom.
Monday to Thursday of the past three weeks were considered. Most of the 26 cities and regions show very similar patterns for the three periods. Significant deviations in Hamburg and Berlin can be explained by the end of the ski holidays or a public holiday on March 8th. Only in Freiburg does the TomTom data show a significant increase in congestion levels in the past week, for which there was initially no obvious explanation.
The home office requirement has not applied since March 20th. It should make it possible to work from home during the pandemic, as long as there are no operational reasons to avoid infections. But the topic of home office or mobile working is by no means over everywhere: Many companies want to continue to offer at least hybrid models for their employees, sometimes independently of the pandemic.
TomTom’s analyzes are based on anonymously collected data from more than 600 million GPS devices worldwide. These include both the company’s navigation devices and built-in infotainment solutions in cars and smartphones.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
