It’s a women-only co-working office in the Flatiron district of the Big Apple. The women are truly remarkable, dynamic entrepreneurs.

Regarding coworking as a way of reducing miles driven, we have to look at the long term. Right now, there are, at most, a handful of coworking spaces in a given city (and, in most cases, no more than one). So, currently, it’s a little bit of an oxymoron. In opening New Work City, I started commuting today for the first time in years.

But what we are seeing are the first outposts in a fundamentally new way of thinking about the workplace.

Okay, I actually ended up writing a huge comment, so I copied it into a blog post. Check out the rest here: http://tonybgoode.tumblr.com/post/57836152/coworking-will-help-with-gas-carbon-money

Good discussion!

I had nothing to do with New Work City’s launch, other than moral support, encouragement, saying a few words, and smuggling in some rare varietal Berkeley super-dark chocolate. All congrats should go to Tony and crew.

Raines Cohen, Coworking Coach

I, too, am skeptical that the decline in mileage is linked to a growth in telecommuting, other than as a second-order relationship. And while taxes on auto fuel may be a signficant element in funding for alternative transportation infrastructure/capital spending, remember that they are more commonly a percentage of dollars rather than gallons, and keep in mind that while people may be driving less, burning fewer gallons, the higher prices that triggered that behavior means that spending (and therefore revenue from gas taxes) remains high.

Raines Cohen, Coworking Coach
fresh from a tour of Independents’ Hall here in Philadelphia today.

As I said, I have no data other than the DoT’s absolute figures. Even a small part of the 15bn figure that’s been influenced by teleworkers is of interest…weak signals are sometimes useful indicators of interesting trends.

My big problem was that it was a one hour drive for me. So I actually ended up commuting like crazy – and only went in about 3 times a week. And sometimes I got there when no one else was around – so I drove 2 hours to be just as alone as I was at home.

But I can definitely recommend it. And your writing about it has gotten me to think about doing it again. Thanks!

Commuting miles would be a small portion of the reduced mileage in the US. While telecommuting has become more accepted in the States, as this site has cataloged to a degree, it’s still a small part of the workforce.

Most of the reduced mileage is from people reducing “discretionary” driving. People have reduced by consolidating trips as much as possible, not taking a drive as entertainment (yes, people still take Sunday drives, etc…) and other non-work related driving.