Cities XI: Talk is cheaper: And so may be other forms of telecommuting, weighed against the time, energy, and expense of moving oneself

Commuting by automobile accounts for more than 40 percent of all urban transportation mileage and about 4 percent of total U.S. energy consumption. Consequently, any system for moving work to the worker, rather than moving the worker to work, could have a considerable impact on planning cities of the future. One technique for reducing transportation needs is called telecommuting — the substitution of telecommunications for transportation. It is particularly well suited for use in industries primarily engaged in the collection, storage, and manipulation of information rather than in the manufacture of goods or provision of physical services, or in information components of noninformation industry firms.