NORTH COUNTY —— Century 21's Ron Bykowski shed his corporate attire 10 years ago, stopped driving 70,000 miles a year, and began working out of his Carlsbad home.

Bykowski is a telecommuter, one of the growing ranks of American workers who skip the daily hassles of getting ready for work each morning and battling traffic in the rush to get to the office.

But just like the typical worker, Bykowski has a daily schedule, bosses to whom he must routinely answer and, most importantly, he still must produce. But he only has to visit the office a few times a year.

"I love it," the Carlsbad resident said Tuesday. "After years of wearing a suit and tie every day, I now wear shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, and I'm 12 steps away from my bedroom."

The former Century 21 vice president for Southern California made the switch when the company relocated its headquarters from Irvine to New Jersey and he was able to take on a new role as a corporate trainer.

A new report from the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based think tank that focuses on public policy issues with a bent toward transportation, says telecommuters such as Bykowski now outnumber mass transit commuters in 27 of the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas, including San Diego.

There are 1.29 telecommuters for every bus rider in San Diego County, and 22 telecommuters for every person who rides the train to get to work, according to the report.

While there is no firm count of the number of businesses in this region that allow workers to telecommute, corporations such as Qualcomm offer the option, and more are said to be considering it.

"All the trends point to more telecommuting," said Ted Balaker, author of the report. "The more our economy becomes knowledge-based rather than industrial, the skills we value are creativity and not having a strong back or being able to manipulate a machine. That makes working from home make more sense.

"Workers like it, there's a lot of evidence they are more productive, and the more companies focus on results, the more room there is for telecommuting," said Balaker, whose treatise is titled "The Quiet Success: Telecommuting's Impact on Transportation and Beyond."

Besides the advantages inherent in not having to get up each morning and rush to get to work, telecommuters also save an estimated $1,200 a year on fuel costs and reap additional savings from putting fewer miles on their cars, according to the report.

Balaker said he decided to write the report after poring over Census Bureau statistics, which in his analysis showed that telecommuting grows each year.

According to the Census Bureau, 4.4 percent of the San Diego County work force telecommuted in 2000. Nationwide, more than 20 million people now work from home for an outside employer at least one day per week, according to Balaker's research.

His study also notes that between 1980 and 2000, mass transit subsidies nationwide have greatly increased, as have the number of car-pool lanes, but the number of mass transit users dropped by 2 percent.

While not a cure-all for highway congestion, Balaker said telecommuting is playing an increasingly important role in traffic relief.

"It's a part of the puzzle," Balaker said. "Policymakers and government officials need to realize that more people are working from home, and impediments such as zoning laws and other restrictions need to be removed."

An example of one such impediment is New York state's requirement that workers who live in Connecticut but work from home for a New York company pay income taxes to each state.

In Los Angeles, the City Council contemplated, but eventually dropped, an ordinance that would have required telecommuters get special business licenses.

The San Diego Association of Governments, the county's transportation planning and primary funding agency, provides suggested policies for companies that want to allow workers to do their jobs from home.

"No one size fits all, but telecommuting is definitely a part of the toolbox of things that can reduce traffic," association Executive Director Gary Gallegos said.

Balaker said employer worries about telecommuting —— perceived loss of control, decreased employee loyalty and communication problems —— are misguided.

"There's a lot of evidence that workers are more productive," he said. "Bosses get caught up in the rituals of the workplace, and I can sympathize with managers struggling to find ways to measure performance. But if a worker has a report due at 5 p.m. Friday, the only thing that really matters is that the report is done by then."

Advances in computer, cell phone and wireless technology make the virtual office an integral part of today's workplace, Balaker added.

Balaker said that he generally works from home in Culver City about three days a week, and is in the office the other two days of the work week.

"It saves time on gas and on car insurance, and I get a reduced rate for driving less," he said.

And Parniyan Hassanzai, who has been working out of her Carlsbad home as an insurance claims liaison since May, agrees.

The mother of a preschooler, Hassanzai wanted to be home more, and was able to convince her Santa Ana-based employer to give it a try.

"As long as you have a fax machine, a computer, a telephone and e-mail, you can work from home," she said. "I told my boss to hold me accountable for my job, and it has worked out great.

"I save a lot of money because I'm not eating lunch at restaurants, and I'm not buying as much gas. And I don't have to battle traffic."

She said she misses the daily interaction with co-workers, but still sees them on the two or three days a month when she has to make the trip to her firm's Orange County offices.

Century 21's Bykowski said the technological advances that make his job easy to do from home has increased his productivity.

"For jobs that used to require a high level of interaction and a high level of travel, you can now accomplish the same goals.

"In the past, in dealing with brokers and maybe 400 offices, you could hit maybe 100 every three months. By working from home on the computer, I hit them all."

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.