The effectiveness of policies to reduce traffic congestion is often limited. If effectiveness is to be improved it might be advisable to introduce a combination of policies and to, inter alia, expand public transport and make services qualitatively better. However, such anti-congestion policies require substantial resources, which government agencies are often unable to afford. In addition, it may take several years for such policies to reduce congestion. In this paper, the traffic congestion problem is therefore approached from a proactive angle. The possibilities of teleworking as a proactive solution to the problem of congestion are considered. The elements discussed are the following: the concept of teleworking, the present status of teleworking in Belgium, and projections of teleworking penetration levels in the future. An estimate is also given of the possible commuter trip reductions in Belgium as a whole, as well as in Brussels, caused by teleworking. To gain better estimates of teleworking penetration levels and of the impact on traffic congestion more accurate data is needed than that which is available at present. (A)
Samenvatting