Tens of hundreds of Amazon workers have been due again within the firm’s Seattle headquarters full-time on Thursday — a improvement that can possible imply extra complications for motorists within the Emerald Metropolis.
State transit officers are urging residents to organize for gridlock within the new 12 months as an estimated 50,000 Amazon company employees reluctantly heed CEO Andy Jassy’s directive to return to the workplace 5 days per week.
“There’s going to be more people on the road, and so that’s when that extra travel time is really going to play a part into where people need to leave extra time to get there,” Aisha Dayal of the Washington state Division of Transportation informed Fox 13 TV.
Vera Akolo, who commutes to work by automotive in Seattle, mentioned she’s making ready for the worst.
“Yeah, this is a reminder it’s not going to be great,” Akolo informed Fox 13.
Amazon maintains its headquarters in downtown Seattle in addition to satellite tv for pc workplaces in close by Metropolitan Park and the City Innovation Middle.
The corporate additionally has workplaces in Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle, the place Jeff Bezos based the e-commerce big.
Amazon mentioned it gives quite a lot of commuter advantages and companies for workers, together with funded or reimbursable public transportation, free commuter shuttles, carpools and bike-related prices.
The corporate additionally pointed to the optimistic affect {that a} return to workplace would have on native companies.
Amazon’s affect on native site visitors is important. When the corporate first known as its workers again into the workplace three days per week in 2023, it led to a 35% lower in speeds on I-90 — the key east-west freeway that stretches from downtown Seattle to jap Washington state.
Dayal mentioned commuters ought to plan forward by downloading the WSDOT app, which gives a number of route choices for high-traffic intervals.
Amazon employees returning to the workplace ought to have a optimistic affect on small companies which have misplaced out on foot site visitors for the reason that coronavirus pandemic pressured workers to remain distant.
Information from the Census Bureau launched final month confirmed that Seattle led the nation in share of its workforce — 31.3% — working remotely among the many 20 largest cities from 2019 by way of 2023.
The 31.3% determine represents greater than 140,000 workers — most of whom are in tech and different data industries — who’ve been working primarily from residence throughout the four-year interval.
Distant work has been devastating for brick-and-mortar outlets within the metropolis. In line with the Downtown Seattle Affiliation, there are greater than 500 vacant storefronts within the space.
In latest months, nonetheless, there are indicators that the pattern is reversing.
The newest census knowledge present that a bit a couple of in 5 employees within the Seattle metro space have been working from residence in 2023 — which is down from practically 50% three years in the past.
Regardless of the hardships introduced on by the pandemic, the Seattle space noticed the quickest financial progress in 2023 amongst massive US metropolitan areas.
The area encompassing Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue noticed its gross home product rise by 6.2% in 2023 — translating into $487.8 billion, in line with the US Bureau of Financial Evaluation.
The Publish has sought remark from Amazon.
