In Wednesday’s Comments to A Traffic Skeptic Insider talked about why the data should be believed that average daily miles travelled has recovered from post-covid lows. Yesterday Geopath released Mobility Update dated September 10, 2020 showing that average miles traveled daily is now 93% of travel occuring prior to covid-19 restrictions. Here’s reader feedback on our post.
An out of home exec says not everyone is driving to work but they are driving.
Agreed. Some agencies don’t care what Geopath or Inrix say, they just want a discount and will do, or say, anything to force you to give it. Mostly National. But, as you said, Covid has changed how people commute. Not everyone is driving, per se, during normal commuting hours. If they do have to drive for work, the flexibility allows them to work from home then drive at times that are less busy. My office is doing it, I am doing it. It’s real…LA traffic is slammed in the afternoon. So, I agree. Moreover, this hurts those folks who push to buy day-parting, on digital, and not buy the entire day. Hold firm as this will become normal, we will never go back to how it was before. The city of LA is trying to work up a benefit package for companies to allow flex commuting. More or less to address global warming and environmental factors and air quality.
A billboard attorney says LA has rebounded.
Anecdotally, based on travel times and watching the gas lines at Costco, traffic on the west side of Los Angeles is very nearly as bad as pre-pandemic.
A reader asks if there is a measurement issue?
The other factor at play here, I believe, is that Geopath is comparing a given week (e.g. the week ending Sept 3) to the “Average Daily Miles Traveled for all of 2019.” Given seasonality in driving patterns, it seems like an apples-to-oranges comparison. Comparing a seasonally high period of driving (summer) to an average for the entire year (which includes, say, January), seems to provide less value.
Insider’s take: When Insider quoted the Geopath Mobility Report that average daily miles travelled was 94% of pre-covid levels, we were comparing the most recent week to a pre-covid baseline week in March 2020, not to all of 2019. Looking at movement pre and post covid shows a nice trend as to how traffic has recovered. You are correct however, that the most meaningful comparison would be a week for 2020 versus the same week for 2019 because it would adjust for seasonality.
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