75 per cent of people fear contracting Covid19 by using public transport to get to work.
According to a study by researchers at Trinity College Dublin, 80 per cent of people would prefer to work from home when the restrictions are lifted.
A quarter of people say they will travel on public transport less often, while 32 per cent will walk more often .
The majority say driving alone, walking and cycling would result in a much lower risk of contracting COVID-19 compared to using public transport
In 2019, approximately 25% of people said they would be strongly in favour of working from home one or two days each week.
In 2020, this increased to almost 80% of participants indicating they would prefer to work from home once the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
In both 2019 and 2020 the main motivating factors cited for working from home were for people to save time and reduce costs.
The 2019 results demonstrated that, on average, 0.15 tonnes of carbon could be saved per annum if employees worked from home one day a week.
The 2020 wave of the survey also asked the employees in the sample how their mode of commuting would change once COVID-19 travel restrictions are lifted.
25% of people said that they would travel to work by public transport less often.
32% said that they would walk to work more often.
75% indicated that they were concerned about contracting COVID-19 while traveling by public transport.
The vast majority felt driving alone, walking and cycling would result in a much lower risk of contracting COVID-19 compared to using public transport.
Brian Caulfield, Associate Professor in Trinity’s School of Engineering, and project coordinator, said: "The current results from the study show that between the two survey periods working from home has become much more acceptable and that in a post COVID-19 world this might become the norm. The findings related to public transport echo those that have been reported internationally and demonstrate the concerns people have about using public transport.
"One of the positive findings is the potential shift towards working from home, which is shown to provide both personal benefits related to travel time saved but also emissions reductions contributing to our climate change targets."
