Abstract:This study investigates the preference to telecommute from home and from a center. While home-based telecommuting is fairly commonplace, center-based telecommuting is a relatively recent form that involves traveling to work at an office near home and remote from the regular workplace. The research presented here constitutes one of the first efforts to model the preference for center-based telecommuting. Survey data were collected from center-based telecommuters, home-based telecommuters, and non-telecommuters, as part of a telecommuting center demonstration project in California. Using attitudinal factor scores, as well as travel and sociodemographic variables, the preferences to work from the telecommuting center and to work from home were modeled. Logit models for center preference, home preference, and center versus home preference were estimated. The most frequently significant characteristics were personal benefits at the center, work ethic at home, and age of the respondent. Speculation on the future of the center-based form of telecommuting suggests slow growth for the near term, but potential long-term viability in connection with alternative uses of telecenter facilities and with the trend toward non-territorial office arrangements.