There is a widespread belief that the use of public transit systems decreased because of the rise of distance working, which led to curtail spending for transportation networks and growth of disconnection among employees. This problem is mainly caused by changes in working patterns and employees’ preferences, and several measures can be taken to reduce its negative consequences.
One major reason for the decline in public transport use is the growing popularity of working from home. Employees who previously had to go to offices every day now can do their jobs remotely, meaning that they have little need to use buses, trains or underground systems. In addition, working from home saves both time and money. For example people can avoid traffics and costs associated with transportation. As a result, fewer passengers use public transit, which leads to make less profit and make it more difficult for governments to maintain and develop theese systems.
One of the measures could be introdused to address this problem is that governments should provide more financial support to transit systems, particularly in cities where passenger numbers have fallen considerably. This funding could be used to maintain existing services and improve their reliability, safety and comfort. In Motosuki, Japan, for instance, underground train works only for one school girl, despite that is not profitable for the government. Secondly, employers should adopt hybrid working hours. To illustrate, workers of Google in New Zeeland office work only three days remotely and other two work days they have to go the the office.
In conclusion, there is a decrease in the use of public transportation because of changes in working styles and workforces’ own interests, and it may be solved by funding from government and companies’ requirements to hybrid working shifts.