There does not seem to be much appetite for freeing up hours lost commuting. We just had a massive experiment in WFH which appeared to be a massive success, yet there seems little appetite to build on it.
What do you mean by that? Is there actual data?
In my region most companies that did not even consider providing WFH for everyone now treats it as their best practice. Companies I know lower their floor space permanently by around 30%.
Just what I see in London - business areas now look as full of people as they ever were.