(Bloomberg) -- Of around 200 employers surveyed in the San Francisco Bay Area, 71% have either brought non-essential workers back to the office or plan to do so by mid-March, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy group.

Most of the companies surveyed monthly since last year said they expect their workers to come into the office three days or fewer a week, with those days most likely being Tuesday through Thursday, the group said. This “new normal” mode of operations will be in place by June for about 67% of respondents, while 82% see it occurring by August or September.

This bodes well for San Francisco, which is struggling with the nation’s weakest office occupancies, stubbornly low transit ridership and one of the country’s slowest job recoveries as remote work leaves downtown streets empty. Last week, San Francisco Mayor London Breed drew commitments from companies such as Bank of America Corp. and Uber Technologies Inc. to have employees return in some capacity in March. 

“We know we won’t return to a five-day in-person work week, but we are eager to start planning our cities and workplaces for a hybrid environment that is good for workers and good for economic development,” Gwen Litvak, Bay Area Council senior vice president, public policy, said in a statement.

The San Francisco metropolitan area had only about 28% of office workers back at their desks as of March 2, according to security company Kastle Systems. That’s the lowest share among 10 U.S. cities. 

Unfortunately for public transit, data shows that commuters are more likely driving to get to their offices. Overall commute volumes for the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges reached 80% of pre-pandemic levels in February, while ridership on the regional rail called Bay Area Rapid Transit has hovered near 25% of pre-pandemic numbers, according to the Bay Area Council statement.

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