The Washington commute could return by fall for many workers. It won't be the same as before.

[IronLionZion]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/washington-commute-coronavirus/2021/03/12/53cb5d2e-7dfe-11eb-85cd-9b7fa90c8873_story.html

Most Washington-area residents who have spent the past year teleworking because of the coronavirus pandemic could be back to their commutes by fall, but it might not resemble the commute they left behind early last year.

Labor Day has become a target date among many employers eyeing the return of workers to the office, according to surveys, business leaders and public officials. A study led by the Greater Washington Partnership, an alliance of the region’s top chief executives, found employers expect 75 percent of their workforce to return by the end of fall.

Prospects for a return were heightened this month when President Biden’s administration announced that vaccines would be available for all adults by May, although business groups and other experts say the transition to widespread in-person office work should be gradual and telecommuting is likely to remain an option for many workers.

“Most employers are going to start to go to a more hybrid model where folks are in the office a couple of days a week,” said Joe McAndrew, vice president of transportation at the Greater Washington Partnership, which surveyed nearly 200 Washington-area employers. “This all kind of rests on our ability to both vaccinate the population at a scale needed for herd immunity, and to reopen the supporting services that enable folks to be able to get to the office.”

One thing I did not miss during the pandemic was multi-hour commutes and other people gloating about their short walking commutes.

[soothsayer]

1. And parking fees