Even temblor fails to really turn employers on to telecommuting.

The initial surge in interest in telecommuting after the Northridge earthquake has subsided, revealing that there is still plenty of resistance to the idea by employers.

Most experts in telecommuting and those involved in such operations said last week they are disappointed in the actual numbers of Los Angeles County employers that have tried telecommuting since the earthquake. They said the earthquake provided a good opportunity to showcase the advantages of telecommuting because of the damage done to local freeways, but so far the response has fallen short of expectations.

By telecommuting employees can work from home or satellite locations using personal computers, telephones and fax machines connected to employers' offices instead of joining the crush of commuters clogging undamaged freeways. "There was a definite and immediate increase in interest after the earthquake and all the damage it caused to freeways," said Cathi Green-Bratton, a training specialist at Commuter Transportation Services Inc. "But it's my sense that the number of companies that have actually gone ahead and started telecommuting is not overwhelming."

Commuter Transportation Services is a nonprofit private-public organization based in Los Angeles that studies commuter issues in the five-county Southern California region. The organization promotes telecommuting and offers advise to employers about implementing telecommuting programs.

Though the response so far may be below expectations, telecommuting proponents added that the practice has caught on among certain businesses.

"From what I have gleaned from calls into our hotline, companies that are very entrepreneurial and have a modern corporate culture are trying it," said Linda Bonniksen, a spokeswoman for Pacific Bell. Since the earthquake, the telephone company has started several programs to assist companies in telecommuting.

She said the telephone company is pleased with the number of inquiries from companies interested in telecommuting but many businesses still resist the practice.

She said between Jan. 20 and Feb. 4 the phone company had received 2,800 inquiries about telecommuting on the special hotline set up after the earthquake. The company, she said, had received about 1,500 work orders for telecommuting "services" since the earthquake. Bonniksen said she was unable to say how many workers or businesses are represented by the work orders.

In the Antelope Valley, where commuters into the Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley areas have been seriously affected by earthquake damage to Both the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways, at least two telecommuting centers have been established with mixed results.

At the Antelope Valley Telebusiness Center in Lancaster, 12 of the facility's 20 business cubicles and offices were rented by businesses for their employees. Since the earthquake, occupancy has gone up to 100 percent. In addition, eight of the business stations have been rented out for night work and there is a waiting list of about 30 workers, said Suzette Cecchini, administrator of the center.

A proposed telecommunications center at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds in Lancaster so far has been unable to open because of a lack of commitments by businesses, said Lynn Schultz, a spokeswoman for the fairgrounds.

"We have gotten calls from businesses interested in the center but so far no one has been willing to sign a contract," she said. The office space rents for between $20 and $25 for an eight-hour shift, she said.

The Antelope Valley Telebusiness Center opened a year ago and is funded through public agency grants. There is no charge to use the facility.

Cecchini, the telebusiness center administrator, said there was a real surge in interest following the earthquake but the calls have started to decline.

"When it comes down to do it, a lot of businesses back away because management tends to feel they need to manage by observation rather than objectives," she said.

Information on how many telecommuters there are in Los Angeles County is sketchy and imprecise because many companies do not want to publicize the fact that they allow employees to work from home. Experts in telecommuting said many companies don't want to reveal that information for competitive reasons. According to Commuter Transportation Services, there are about 35,000 telecommuters on any given work day in the five-county Southern County region. Nationwide, about 6.1 percent of the adult work force telecommutes at least on a part-time basis, according to Link Resources Corp., a New York-based consulting firm.

Jack Nilles, a Los Angeles-based telecommuting consultant, said he thought the numbers from Commuter Transportation Services are on the low side.

He estimated that in Southern California there is a work force of about 7 million people and that one time or another 600,000 of them have telecommuted.

Nilles, whose book, "Making Telecommuting Happen," will be published next month, said it is probably too early to say the response from business was disappointing after the earthquake.

"You have to remember the effects of the earthquake are not over. This is going to last for another six or eight months and in that amount of time more businesses may consider it. It is not something that businesses decide to do right away because it requires a lot of changes in corporate thinking," he said. "Big employers," he added, "are slow to act."