Tens of thousands of Amazon employees were due back in the company’s Seattle headquarters full-time on Thursday — a development that will likely mean more headaches for motorists in the Emerald City.
State transit officials are urging residents to prepare for gridlock in the new year as an estimated 50,000 Amazon corporate workers reluctantly heed CEO Andy Jassy’s directive to return to the office five days a 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 Department of Transportation told Fox 13 TV.
Vera Akolo, who commutes to work by car in Seattle, said she’s preparing for the worst.
“Yeah, this is a reminder it’s not going to be great,” Akolo told Fox 13.
Amazon maintains its headquarters in downtown Seattle as well as satellite offices in nearby Metropolitan Park and the Urban Innovation Center.
The company also has offices in Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle, where Jeff Bezos founded the e-commerce giant.
Amazon said it provides a variety of commuter benefits and services for employees, including funded or reimbursable public transportation, free commuter shuttles, carpools and bike-related costs.
The company also pointed to the positive impact that a return to office would have on local businesses.
Amazon’s impact on local traffic is significant. When the company first called its employees back into the office three days a week in 2023, it led to a 35% decrease in speeds on I-90 — the major east-west highway that stretches from downtown Seattle to eastern Washington state.
Dayal said commuters should plan ahead by downloading the WSDOT app, which provides several route options for high-traffic periods.
Amazon workers returning to the office should have a positive impact on small businesses that have lost out on foot traffic since the coronavirus pandemic forced employees to stay remote.
Data from the Census Bureau released last month showed that Seattle led the nation in share of its workforce — 31.3% — working remotely among the 20 largest cities from 2019 through 2023.
The 31.3% figure represents more than 140,000 employees — most of whom are in tech and other knowledge industries — who have been working mainly from home during the four-year period.
Remote work has been devastating for brick-and-mortar shops in the city. According to the Downtown Seattle Association, there are more than 500 vacant storefronts in the area.
In recent months, however, there are signs that the trend is reversing.
The latest census data show that a little more than one in five workers in the Seattle metro area were working from home in 2023 — which is down from nearly 50% three years ago.
Despite the hardships brought on by the pandemic, the Seattle area saw the fastest economic growth in 2023 among large US metropolitan areas.
The region encompassing Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue saw its gross domestic product rise by 6.2% in 2023 — translating into $487.8 billion, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The Post has sought comment from Amazon.
