LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE DRIVING:

Telecommuting Interest Soars: Pump Prices Spur Workers To Abandon Long Drives (Amit R. Paley, 9/14/05, Washington Post)

With gas prices in the Washington region among the highest in the nation, increasing numbers of beleaguered commuters are looking to trade two-hour treks on congested freeways for speedy telecommutes via the information superhighway, teleworking advocates say.

"Unfortunately, it takes a kind of unbelievable event like this to get people's attention and force them to change the way they do things," said Bob Smith, director of the Silver Spring-based ITAC, formerly known as the International Telework Association & Council.

Teleworking advocates -- including the federal government -- say they hope widespread consternation about rising fuel prices will prove to be the tipping point needed to bring about a telecommuting revolution. And they have been scrambling to convert the public to their cause.

Just days after the levees in New Orleans burst, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent out a government-wide memo urging telecommuting as a way to alleviate a post-Katrina gas shortage. Telework centers around the Washington region quickly offered free use of their space. And telecommuting experts say their phones have been ringing off the hook.

For years, transportation experts in Washington have dreamed of a boom in telecommuting as a way to ease traffic congestion and reduce the environmental impacts of car emissions. Every worker who begins telecommuting could reduce government transportation spending by $3,000, according to a study by George Washington University's Center for Economic Research.

Sufficiently high gas taxes will provide the same unbelievable event on a daily basis.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 14, 2005 8:01 AM