How Commuter Programs Build a Better Workplace Experience

Commuters arriving to the workplace

In 2021 and 2022, the U.S. and international labor forces underwent an unprecedented generational shift dubbed the Great Resignation (a.k.a. the Big Quit). In its wake, human resources professionals have continued to prioritize the development of a more positive and wellness-oriented workplace experience as talent retention persists as a major issue facing employers.

Experts continue to debate the underlying and immediate causes of the Great Resignation. Yet, a strong consensus of observers believe the phenomenon is rooted in a dissatisfaction among a broad plurality of workers with conventional approaches to employment. Analysts have attributed many facets of the Great Resignation to a desire among employees for a better work-life balance and work situations that affirm their individualism and human dignity.

The end result of the Big Quit is a sea change in the labor market landscape, which has shifted decidedly in favor of employees and job-seekers. Commuter programs offer employers a meaningful yet affordable way to achieve multiple strategic benefits associated with building a more positive workplace experience.

Commuter Programs: Why They Matter and Their Impact on the Workplace Experience

Commuting is well-documented as being stressful. However, it can also be demoralizing — especially for daily long-distance commuters and people who travel to and from work in a single-occupancy vehicle. The combination of sedentary activity, isolation, traffic congestion, and unpredictability combine to make driving a particularly difficult mode to rely on.

How bad is it for commuters? A 2021 survey conducted by The Zebra, a United States-based insurance marketplace, asked 1,000 people what they would give up in terms of compensation in order to shorten their daily commutes. A majority of respondents said they would sacrifice as much as 50% of their salaries in exchange for a more manageable daily journey to work.

The Zebra’s findings echo a growing perception that money has waned as a primary driver of people’s employment choices. In 2018, Harvard Business Review published an editorial commenting on research that found 9 out of 10 survey respondents were willing to accept less money in order to land a more meaningful job.

Meanwhile, “Big Four” accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) conducted a global workforce survey in 2022, which encompassed more than 52,000 people in 44 countries. The PwC study found that while money remains a primary factor for many employees, impacts related to meaning are equally likely to guide their choices to stay at or leave a job.

While commuter programs alone do not suffice as generators of mission-oriented meaning, they can help align an employer with a broader set of shared citizenship values. More impactfully, they also contribute to a positive workplace experience by giving commuters easier access to a set of alternative commuting modes that can reduce stress, improve mood and productivity, and boost their ability to maintain a more positive work-life balance.

Another widely cited bit of market research originated with the internationally renowned talent recruitment and staffing firm Robert Half in 2018. The Robert Half report covered more than 2,800 commuters in 28 U.S. cities, and found that 23% of respondents have quit a job because of a difficult or stressful commute at least once in their lives.

At a time when businesses are struggling to attract and retain their best workers and employees are demanding a better workplace experience, commuter programs are an ideally positioned solution that benefits both parties in the employment equation.

Commuter Benefits Strategies that Work

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a top human resources professional organization, stresses that commuter programs have a major role to play in recruitment and retention efforts. SHRM experts note that well-designed and effective programs are especially beneficial to both employers and their people teams in major metropolitan centers. In these areas, commuting costs can be especially high given the relatively expensive nature of their parking and transportation networks.

To this end, many successful commuter benefits strategies focus on ways to either reduce those costs or put money back in the pockets of people who choose less stressful and more sustainable modes of transportation. Employers can help their team members cut commuting costs by offering transit subsidies or reimbursements, strong support for rideshare programs, and improved facilities for active commuters. Parking cash-out programs that offer team members financial compensation in exchange for voluntarily relinquishing their onsite parking privileges are another effective tool that can also help businesses save significant amounts of money.

At the same time, organizations should not take a one-size-fits-all approach when designing commuter programs. Team members have varying needs, with social, cultural, and generational factors all playing a role. Conducting surveys that generate advanced insights into the commuting behaviors, travel preferences, and workplace experience needs of team members are therefore highly recommended at the program planning and development stage.

A few other general tips and words of wisdom apply to commuter programs:

  • Programs with user-friendly, internet-based and mobile access tend to generate better results
  • Gamification, rewards, and incentive programs are effective ways to encourage commuters to give alternative modes a try
  • Offer personalized recommendations and multimodal solutions to commuters to drive engagement

Employers should also ensure that their commuter programs comply with all relevant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations and local commuter ordinances.

Integrate Pave Commute as Part of Your Organization’s Efforts to Improve the Workplace Experience

No matter the size of your company, RideAmigos solutions can empower you to engage and support commuters. Our apps, like Commute Hub, combine behavioral science research with easy-to-use technology to deliver a world-class commuter experience.

If you’re ready to help your teams adopt sustainable habits while improving their work-life balance, talk to our experts today!

What is Commute Trip Reduction and why do employers do it (even if they don’t have to)?

Commute trip reduction

For many planners focusing on transportation demand management, the best commute trip is the one that’s never made. But even in the case of essential workers and businesses’ drive to get remote workers back into the office, more and more employers are implementing commute trip reduction (CTR) strategies, aimed at reducing the number of cars coming to the workplace.

While a growing number of jurisdictions and development agreements require employers to implement and report on trip reduction initiatives, there are a number of overlooked benefits to the organizations themselves — from employee experience to reduced infrastructure costs. Remote work arrangements obviously take the pressure off, but any organization can benefit from an effective trip-reduction initative. Let’s take a look at the various ways businesses can make trip reduction a valuable and productive part of their commute management strategies.

Carpooling

Ridesharing is a powerful method of reducing the number of single-occupancy vehicles at your workplace. Participants enjoy all the benefits and convenience of point-to-point travel, all while busting stress, boosting collegiality, and saving money.

Carpool and rideshare matching features offer a powerful, tech-driven solution to help colleagues find partners to share rides with. They also provide many support and management features for commuters, including messaging, route planning, and cost tracking capabilities.

Hybrid work arrangements

Internet connectivity has transformed the workplace in many ways, including expanding it beyond the brick-and-mortar office. If jobs can be performed remotely, either sometimes or most of the time, it’s a great idea to offer the option to telecommute (or “work from home”).

Telecommuting is rising in popularity for all the right reasons: it gives employees a better work-life balance while sending a positive message about your company’s values. It also helps businesses save money, create a better workplace culture, and appeal to emerging young professionals who value flexibility.

Alternative working hours

This can be combined with telecommuting or used in its place if working from home is not a viable option. Alternative working hours aim to reduce strain on transportation infrastructure by avoiding peak-time travel to the greatest possible degree. The strategy can include:

  • “Flex time” policies that allow commuters to arrive and leave later in the day to avoid rush-hour travel
  • Compressed work weeks: for example, you could schedule four 10-hour work days per week instead of the usual five, giving your employees Monday or Friday off and keeping them off the road during those times
  • Staggered or overlapping shifts that prevent localized traffic congestion during shift changes

Transit encouragement

The strict definition of “trip reduction” refers to eliminating the commute altogether, but the term also encompasses strategies that preserve the commute but change the mode from a solo drive to a sustainable alternative. Ridesharing is one well-known example, and public transportation is another.

Many strategies can be used to encourage commuters to make better use of public transit:

  • Offer free or subsidized transit tickets or monthly transit passes
  • Create a challenge program or launch a points-based incentive initiative to reward commuters who use public transportation more often
  • Launch a vanpool service to link your workplace to the nearest major public transportation hub or convergence point

For added effect, you can combine this approach with supplementary strategies aimed to provide further incentives for leaving the car at home. Parking cash-out programs, earn-a-bike programs, and other rewards-based initiatives can really move the needle when it comes to mode-based approaches to trip reduction.

Active commuting encouragement

You can also apply similar principles to active commuting by prompting team members to walk or bike to work more often. In addition to challenges and incentives, you can get commuters excited about active commuting by:

  • Making sure there are adequate and secure bike storage facilities
  • Adding showers and lockers so active commuters can freshen up before work
  • Offering guaranteed rides home to active commuters in case of emergency

Support your commuter programs with powerful software solutions

RideAmigos solutions power the world’s leading commute management and CTR programs.  They combine ridesharing, multimodal pooling, compliance and commuter insights surveys, CTR planning, gamification, parking management, incentives, advanced reporting and data visualization. Small and large employers around the world, transportation management organizations, and public agencies in 27 states partner with us to deliver smarter, more sustainable commuting.

If you’re looking to get started with CTR or commuter engagement, request a demo today.

Explore Employer Strategies for Creating a Better Commuter Experience

RideAmigos recently hosted a CommuteCon Mini webinar covering innovative strategies for improving the commuter experience. The event included senior transportation demand management (TDM) experts from high-profile companies including LinkenIn, Genentech, and Kaiser Permanente.

Connect with current, high-impact ways of improving the commuter experience for your team

The panelists introduced and explained new and updated strategies to improve the commuter experience and help their teams choose sustainable alternatives to solo driving. Notably, Genentech’s commuter experience program directly addresses the tricky issue of encouraging mode shift in situations where the employer’s facilities are not well-served by local public transit networks.

LinkenIn is currently operating some fascinating experimental TDM pilot programs. These projects are built around a combination of personalized commute consulting services and RideAmigos-powered technologies for advancing commuter benefits beyond the traditional workplace.

Kaiser Permanente has built an impressively complete, rewards-focused commuter experience program. Since its implementation, the program has generated fantastic results while allowing participants to earn an extra $150 per month or more by participating regularly.

Other webinar highlights include:

  • Detailed expert insights into running commuter experience programs for large organizations
  • Ways to leverage local commute hubs as focal points for bespoke transportation services
  • Innovative solutions to the persistent “first mile/last mile” dilemma

The hour-long conversation also explores program designs that build in:

The webinar offers deep insights into the factors that drive program success and inspiring ideas for TDM managers looking to build an in-house commute hub for their people teams.

You can also view this event for free on YouTube.

Connect with RideAmigos to take commuter experience to the next level

RideAmigos provides employers with innovative, award-winning solutions for building a better commuter experience. The RideAmigos CommuteHub delivers personalized commute support based on benefits, incentives, parking options, and other mobility services available to them while delivering rich insights and program analytics tools to help companies maximize program impact.

Our team of commute experts would love to show you how to apply behavioral science and smart technology to your employee commute challenges. To learn more, contact RideAmigos or get started today with a demo.

 

Pave Commute named Best Emerging or Innovative Tech Solution in Employee Experience in the 2023 HR Tech Awards

SANTA MONICA, May 24, 2023 — Pave Commute by RideAmigos, the AI-powered benefit app for commuters, has been named by the 2023 HR Tech Awards as “Best Innovative or Emerging Tech Solution” for Employee Experience. This award recognizes Pave Commute as one of the HR technology industry’s most innovative solutions in its category, being selected after rigorous judging by a panel of independent practitioners, consultants, and industry educators. 

Each year, the HR Tech Awards program presented by Lighthouse Research & Advisory, provides peer-reviewed feedback and inputs on technologies purpose-built to serve employers and the workforce. According to Lighthouse Research & Advisory data, HR Tech Awards winners represent about 1% of the more than 5,000 solution providers across the HR technology landscape. Each of the tools is being used by employers right now to help them hire, develop, and retain their people, and the technologies are amazing in their ability to support intelligent decisions, personalized actions, and more. 

Commenting on why the Pave Commute program stands out as an innovative solution for employee experience, judges pointed to the way it helps employees align their personal values with those of their organization. 

“This turnkey program uses behavioral science and AI to provide personalized commute recommendations, gamification, and group-based ride-sharing, resulting in a more sustainable and engaging employee experience,” said George Rogers, Chief Culture Officer at Lighthouse Research and Advisory about Pave Commute. “With robust reporting, companies can easily track the impact of their transportation benefits program. Pave Commute is leading the movement towards smarter, more sustainable commuting.”

“The employers we work with are excited to be able to provide a benefit that empowers people to align their commute choices with their values,” said Corey Tucker, Head of Innovation at RideAmigos, the team behind Pave Commute. “Pave Commute is designed to make smart choices easier and more fun by creating a personalized experience based on behavioral science.”  

“Our team is passionate about making commuting less stressful and more sustainable for everyone, no matter the size of their company,” said Kathryn Hagerman Medina, RideAmigos Head of Customer Success and Marketing. “It’s a huge honor to be recognized by the HR Tech Awards and we’re thrilled to see more HR leaders focusing on improving the commuter experience.” 

The Pave Commute app is free in the Apple App Store and Google Play store and requires an employer subscription to access programs and rewards. Interested employers can learn more at pavecommute.app.

About RideAmigos

At RideAmigos, we are on a mission to change the way the world commutes, for good. Our commuter engagement apps combine innovative technology with proven principles of behavioral science to empower everyone to make smarter transportation choices. Large employers, universities, and government agencies use our powerful products to reduce congestion, parking demand, and environmental impact while creating healthier, happier communities. We have helped our clients take tens of millions of cars off the road and offset hundreds of millions of pounds of CO2 emissions.

Why Commutes Should Be Part of Your Benefits Package

 

Employee benefits and perks are a big deal and they can make all the difference in the competition for top talent. In fact, according to a 2018 survey from Glassdoor, 63 percent of job-seekers focus on benefits when reviewing job ads. When done right, those same benefits also help your existing team stay more engaged and productive, leading to higher levels of employee satisfaction and retention. If companies want to attract—and keep—employees in a tight job market, incorporating the right mix of benefits into the compensation package is essential.

Small benefits can make a big difference

A growing number of employers now offer portfolios of smaller, more targeted benefits to support individual employee needs on top of the standard packages for healthcare, financial planning, and paid time off. 

As one example, a 2020 survey from the Society for Human Resource Management found that during the pandemic, employers increased investments in wellness benefits—from financial health and family planning to meditation—all to help their teams bring their best selves to work. 

With many remote workers back in the office, and increasing traffic in urban areas, the employee commute is emerging as a key area of concern for employers. Rightfully so: commuting to work takes up a significant amount of time—just under an hour a day for the average worker, according to the United States Census Bureau. And, as it turns out, a stressful commute can be a deal breaker. In an often-cited 2018 survey by staffing firm Robert Half, nearly a quarter of respondents said they had left a job because of a bad commute. It’s more important than ever for employers to be considering benefits packages that include support for commuters. 

Employers and employees co-own the commute 

The last two or so years have forced widespread reflections on the way we work, how we prioritize our time, and our relationship with our employer. Along with that comes an increased recognition that commuting to a worksite is often an extension of the work itself. 

We are all more conscious of the burden that a commute can put on workers and, hopefully, grateful to those workers who make the journey to hospitals, grocery stores, manufacturing facilities, and other essential services that everyone relies on. Employees that are required to be physically present to perform their jobs are effectively giving that extra hour to their employer. With record-setting gas prices and steep inflation, that trip is also taking a larger chunk of their wages. Benefits packages should reflect this co-responsibility for the commute.

Commuting doesn’t have to be all bad. For knowledge workers using transit or riding in a carpool, the commute can provide time to respond to Slack messages, read industry reports and articles, scroll posts from thought-leaders on Twitter, and sort out their inboxes. For those who can’t accomplish work in a shared commute, the time traveling to and from work can be an important boundary, one in which they can catch up on personal reading or mentally prepare for or recover from the workday. And for those able and inclined to choose an active commute, multiple studies have shown activities like biking or walking to work are linked to higher commute satisfaction and physical and mental health benefits

There are other organizational benefits for companies that optimize the commute for employees, too, such as:

  • Furthering sustainability: For employers committed to sustainability, efforts to encourage commuters to opt for more environmentally friendly modes of transport are a big win. For employees who are values-driven (a trait growing more and more common in the modern workforce), tools that help them see the impact of their sustainable choices help reinforce their engagement with their company’s mission. Commuters using our apps in the Bay Area alone are saving around 25,000 tons of CO2 each year by choosing sustainable modes.
  • Promoting wellness: While more research is needed into the specifics, sitting too much is a real health problem. As the Mayo Clinic puts it, “it seems clear that less sitting and more moving overall contribute to better health.” Your organization may already have wellness programs that encourage employees to go to the gym or incentivize other healthy behaviors (like quitting smoking) – a commuting program that nudges people to consider riding a bicycle or walking to work fits into that same wellness framework. 
  • Saving on facilities expenses: The cost of renting space in parking lots—or building a parking lot—can be steep for employers. One company using RideAmigos apps saved $20,000 a month on parking leases by giving  commuter incentives to employees who switched to cycling to work instead of driving.

Empower better commutes with better tools

It’s obvious why programs that support commuters are getting more attention from employers than ever, but curating the right benefits and perks can take work.

Even just to implement small perks like snacks in the breakroom, someone has to be in charge of sourcing vendors, placing orders, maintaining supplies, adjusting the offerings based on feedback from employees, and ensuring equity for employees with dietary restrictions. Launching—and maintaining—a benefit to commuting employees can be far more complex. That’s where smart commute management tools come in.

Helping companies—and employees—rethink the commute and empowering them to choose more sustainable, cost-effective, and satisfying options inspires behavior change. In more than a decade working to empower commuters to make smarter choices, we have seen numerous tactics and strategies be effective in creating that change: 

  • Check your pro-car bias. Employers that provide free parking for cars but don’t provide secure bike storage and other facilities for active commuters—like showers and changing rooms—are not making it any easier to choose biking, walking, or running to work. Take a fresh look at how welcoming your workplace is for a variety of transportation choices (eg. what does the walk to the nearest transit stop look like?) and make adjustments where possible. 
  • Offer backup rides. Sometimes workers need the flexibility to get somewhere quickly in an emergency, or to work late when they’re in the flow; that shouldn’t stop them from choosing to carpool or ride transit. A simple, easy-to-claim credit to use for rideshare when they need it can eliminate this obstacle. 
    • Personalized support. Studies show that the more options we have, the harder it is to make a choice, and the less satisfied we ultimately feel with it. Plus the planning that comes along with trying a new commute option can be overwhelming. When you consider that someone has to weigh all the pros, cons, and unknowns about using transit or trying a new bike route—all before work—it’s no wonder that those who have cars often default to hopping in one to get to work. But when advised of their optimal mode, research shows people are likely to take it. Think of how Google Maps tells you when it has found a faster route. 
  • Reward behavior change. Commuters can earn rewards within an app for taking certain actions—like taking the recommendation to carpool instead of driving alone, or trying transit. The rewards can be redeemed for prizes or perks funded by the employer. This type of gamification is a proven strategy to engage users and help them form new—and hopefully sticky—habits. 

Large employers that already have world-class commuter programs and smaller companies that do not have dedicated transportation teams can both offer commute benefits for their employees and contractors. Including employee commute benefits in your total compensation packages can be good for your business and your team. 

We’ve been working with governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations for over a decade to change the way the world commutes. Get in touch with us to find out what kind of program fits your team’s needs.

How Commuting Impacts the Environment

Transportation is a major source of CO2 emissions contributing to climate change and, in case it doesn’t go without saying, personal vehicles emit more harmful CO2 mile-for-mile than shared transportation. Emissions standards for cars and trucks help. In fact, in the United States, CO2 emissions from vehicles were down 6% in 2021 compared to 2005 levels, in spite of an increase in overall numbers of vehicles on the road. Unfortunately, the United Nations Environmental Program has called for at least a 45% decrease in emissions to prevent global temperature increases above 1.5 degrees Celcius. 

As more and more remote workers return to the office, the percentage of people who drive to work in a single-occupancy vehicle remains high. A Statista survey found that, even with high rates of telecommuting, a majority (63% of workers) commute to a job by car.

Climate awareness and interest in climate-action are on the rise, and corporate sustainability practices factor into employment decisions for many workers. Employers, government agencies, and individuals all have an interest in reducing the impact our commutes have on the planet. Fortunately, while commuter behavior is one of the hardest habits to change, some employers and communities are having success using strategies grounded in behavioral science.

The impact of driving to work

Commuting to work accounts for nearly all of an individual employee’s job-related carbon footprint. A look at the CO2 emissions resulting from commuting by car shows that individual choices can have a big impact.

The average American commute is around 15 miles each way. Here’s how that translates into CO2 emissions in each year in different types of personal vehicles: 

  • Small car (35 MPG fuel economy): 2.1 tons
  • Midsize car (20 MPG fuel economy): 3.9 tons
  • Full-size car/SUV (14 MPG fuel economy): 5.7 tons

While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is introducing policies to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, the transition will not happen overnight. A New York Times report found that in 2021, fewer than 1% of the 250 million cars on U.S. roads were electricSo, getting even a small percentage of commuters out of cars and into cleaner, smarter modes of transportation can have a measurable positive impact on air quality. 

Small changes can have big positive impacts

If just 5% of the 106.4 million American workers who currently commute by single-occupancy vehicle shifted to another mode they could save nearly 21 million tons of CO2 per year. 

At RideAmigos, we are on a mission to change the way the world commutes by empowering everyone to make smarter transportation choices. 

Commute management can make a difference

Implementing commuter programs at a community or organizational level can be a big help. Businesses, schools, government agencies, and universities all have a role to play in reducing carbon emissions from commuting. Fortunately, trip reduction programs also have other benefits to people and organizations!

Here are some examples of organizational transportation demand management strategies that work to encourage transportation sustainability:

  • Flexible daily choice parking: When parking is free as a benefit, or paid by commuters on monthly or annual basis, the effect is a feeling of being “locked-in.” Not using a parking pass that is already paid for might feel like a waste, especially if they’d have to pay for a transit ticket on top of that. By transitioning to a daily option, communities and organizations can provide commuters more flexibility to make the best choice each day — so perhaps they can drive on days they need a car for school drop-off or other errands, but bike or ride transit on other days. Automate payment each time an employee reserves a parking space. Or when parking is already provided, allowing people the option to “cash-out” the benefit on days they don’t need it is a highly effective way to do this.
  • Subsidies and incentives: When parking is free and driving is the default, many people don’t see the downside of commuting by car. To help shift the calculus, organizations that can’t or aren’t ready to charge for parking can similarly subsidize other modes by offering free transit passes, providing a guaranteed ride program for carpoolers, offering micro-mobility options and, of course, offering great facilities for cyclists like bike lockers and showers.
  • A personalized approach to carpooling: Carpooling can be an excellent option for commuters who are not well-served by public transit. So why is it so hard to convince people to try it? New group-based pooling programs that automatically connect commuters based on schedule and preferences are revolutionizing ridesharing. Apps like Pave Commute automate this tried-and-true transportation demand management tactic and dynamically personalize for everyone in a community or organization, with real-time chat and other nudges.
  • Gamification: Some people might find a perfect commute and just stick to it. But the reality is that schedules are not always the same, weather changes, transit delays happen, and construction projects snarl traffic. An app-based program that keeps commuters engaged with ongoing gamification can ensure that whenever things change, commuters have help to make a sustainable choice — instead of just hopping in the car.

These strategies work at all levels — from individual employers to entire regions. In addition to reducing reliance on single-occupancy vehicles, these programs can improve the commute experience and give every participant the opportunity to contribute to critical sustainable development goals (SDGs). Regardless of the type and size of an organization, or the complexity of its transportation needs, technology can help scale and automate these proven commute management strategies.

Empower employees to make more sustainable commute choices

Organizations that implement the right commute management programs see real modeshift results and improved commuter experience. RideAmigos apps and programs are designed by experts, based on behavioral science to scale effective strategies. Commuters using our apps avoided over 61 million vehicle miles traveled and reduced over 40 million pounds of CO2 in 2022. Join us to start making your impact today. Contact us to get started. 

6 Tips for Marketing Your Commuter Program

The success of a commuter program can often depend on reaching and engaging the right audience.

Depending on the target audience, organizations need to market and promote commuter programs in different ways. Government organizations may be looking to reach commuters directly, or to partner with local employers. Businesses are seeking to engage and motivate their own employees. Educational institutions want to spread the word among staff, faculty, and students.

Whichever scenario you are facing, you’ll need a tailored communications plan to connect with your target audience. To that end, here are six helpful tips that will help you market commuter programs more effectively:

  • Start by listening. Commuter surveys are invaluable tools for understanding commuter behavior and preferences. They are essential in the planning stages of a campaign, especially for learning which alternative modes of transportation your commuter base would be most likely to try.
  • Emphasize benefits that matter to commuters (or their employers). Surveys can also deliver valuable insights into what matters most to your target commuter base. You can use that information to design campaigns and marketing materials that emphasize benefits. For example, commuters might be looking to save money or get more exercise, so focusing on that interest might help you appeal to them.
  • Use simple graphics to create eye-catching, easy-to-understand pictorial representations. There are many free or inexpensive graphics platforms you can use to put together visuals that quickly and clearly express your program’s fundamentals. Try pairing graphics with relevant statistics to draw attention to a particular problem associated with commuting, or to illustrate a specific benefit you’re trying to achieve.
  • Create a strong, two-sentence summary for your program. When you market commuter programs, you’ve got to engage people in a simple and direct way on what matters to them. Have a clean, easily digestible, and compelling two-sentence summary of what the program does for your audience to add to your script anytime you talk about your efforts.
  • Make the most of existing communications channels. Before you try to create brand-new channels for communications, use ones that already exist. For instance, use recurring departmental or interdepartmental meetings as an opportunity to market commuter programs, or leverage employee newsletters, campus newspapers, or existing advertising networks to help get the word out.
  • Designate a “point person” to deliver your message. In large organizations, it’s better to designate a “point person” who can deliver your message directly to team members than it is for an anonymous, unconnected individual to reach out to the entire commuter base. Messages are more readily accepted when they’re delivered by someone you know, so try to get departmental or team-based reps involved in your program.

RideAmigos takes employer and commuter engagement seriously. Whether you have a professional branding and communications team, or you’re working with zero marketing resources, we have a solution for you. From science-based automated engagement programs built into our apps to premium self-service content management and email marketing tools for administrators in our Commute Hub and Regional TDM Hub, we are helping successful modeshift programs everywhere generate enthusiasm, high participation rates, and real measurable results.

For more insight, contact us to discuss your program today.

Make commuting part of your ESG strategy

Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) teams are popping up in all kinds of organizations as companies continue to embrace higher levels of social responsibility. These teams play a large and growing role in compliance, employer branding, community engagement, and corporate sustainability initiatives. Many new ESG teams are also making commuting part of a comprehensive ESG strategy.

ESG managers are often tasked with making high-impact, high-profile improvements on limited budgets. At the same time, there is usually a high degree of scrutiny on ESG program results.

When it comes to objectives like helping the fight against climate change and reducing carbon emissions, the commute is an easy win. Improving employee commutes gives everyone a chance to contribute to ESG initiatives, and reinforces a corporate culture of sustainability. For employees who don’t work from home, the commute may account for as much as 98% of their work-related carbon footprint. While this likely represents a much smaller share of the organization’s overall carbon emissions, too many ESG teams overlook simple solutions to this very addressable problem. But it turns out, there is no better way to combine sustainability with employee engagement.

Commuter-focused sustainability programs increase employee engagement

New surveys reveal that top talent expects greater alignment of their organization’s values with their own ideals. As more businesses are pushing for remote workers to return to the office, and stories of super-commuters are everywhere, more businesses are starting to consider commuter programs that mitigate environmental impact, save money, and reduce stress.

A growing number of organizations are recognizing the importance of providing tangible ways for employees to take climate action at work because it correlates with higher levels of job satisfaction. Creating an internal culture of sustainability drives higher levels of engagement, especially since commuters themselves stand to benefit. It’s a triple win.

Businesses can measure the impact of commute programs in real time

Businesses should always track the impact of investments in new programs to make sure spending is in line with priorities. But when it comes to ESG initiatives, there is an even greater level of scrutiny on results. To avoid the appearance of “greenwashing,” a term that means exaggerating or making misleading claims about sustainable practices for marketing purposes, organizations need to accurately measure the environmental benefits of any sustainability program closely. Fortunately, when it comes to commuting, technology allows employers to automate commuter behavior change programs and measure their direct impact over time.

To achieve ambitious sustainability goals, organizations can’t afford to ignore low-hanging fruit like the daily commute. The right program can create meaningful carbon reductions with very low operating costs.

Employees can help make commuting part of your ESG strategy

Most people are happy to buy into programs that fight climate change and promote environmental responsibility, but these initiatives take on greater relevance when they also measurably improve a person’s life. With high gas prices, worsening traffic, and greater awareness of the impacts of climate change, programs that making commuting easier and incentivize sustainable choices are great boosts for employee engagement. People participate in these programs at robust rates, giving ESG teams valuable data and insights to present to management.

A good commute management strategy can improve commuter experience and measurably reduce CO2 emissions from employee transportation. Our team works with leading employers around the world to power commuter programs that boost engagement, reduce parking demand and environmental impact, and help everyone improve their trip to work.

Connect with our experts to learn how you can make commuting part of our ESG strategy. Get started today!

RideAmigos Proudly Announces its Participation in the Shared Mobility Action Network

 

RideAmigos is pleased to confirm its official participation in the Shared Mobility Action Agenda, a project headed by Chicago’s Shared-Use Mobility Center. Thus far, the Agenda has drawn in more than 50 partners from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

The Agenda’s broad goal is to make shared modes of transportation more accessible, reliable, and affordable than driving a car by 2030. It plans to achieve that core objective through focused, policy-based advocacy efforts centered on:

  • Shared mobility infrastructure investments
  • Household-focused incentive programs designed to stimulate mode shift
  • Reducing the carbon lifecycle emissions of shared-use vehicles
  • Developing sustainable funding models for shared mobility action
  • Inspiring institutional change

RideAmigos shares the Shared-Use Mobility Center’s view that we are currently in a critical and pivotal moment for the future of sustainable transportation. Reshaping our urban spaces and road networks to prioritize people over cars has the potential to address a long list of pressing and persistent problems, from climate change to racial inequality.

The success of the Shared Mobility Action Agenda depends on the robust and committed participation of government, private industry, and nonprofit advocacy groups.

Why Is Action on Shared Mobility So Critical?

Several eye-opening statistics point to the pressing need for targeted and effective shared mobility action:

  • About 30% of all U.S. carbon emissions come from the transportation sector. Even a mass-scale shift to electric vehicles will not do enough to address this issue — after all, that electricity has to come from somewhere, and many legacy power generation methods still depend on fossil fuels.
  • The lowest-income households in the United States spend 37% of their gross income on transportation. Affordable shared solutions are desperately needed to connect members of these households to educational and employment opportunities that support their upward economic mobility.
  • More than 35,000 people die in traffic accidents each year in the United States. Members of racialized communities, including Black and Native Americans, lose their lives at two to four times the rate of non-Hispanic white Americans.

By taking cars off the road and putting people in shared modes, we could make major steps toward solving these and many other transportation-related problems.

Projected Impacts of the Shared Mobility Action Agenda

Making even partial progress on the Shared Mobility Action Agenda’s goals by 2030 will result in dramatic improvements in multiple critical areas:

  • Families and households, especially those in lower income brackets, will benefit from easier and more direct access to low-cost, reliable, and efficient shared modes of transportation.
  • All levels of government will make a deeper, more meaningful commitment to reducing the carbonization consequences of the transportation sector.
  • Our transportation infrastructure will more directly support socioeconomic and racial equality.
  • Advocacy organizations and nonprofit groups will have a high-impact, far-reaching platform for voicing community-based concerns and addressing unique community needs.

The Shared Mobility Action Agenda will also make our streets safer and less vulnerable to traffic accidents and fatalities, all while bringing an expanded suite of mobility options to millions of Americans living in rural destinations.

RideAmigos Reinforces Shared Mobility Objectives Through Its TDM Platform and Commuter Programs

RideAmigos redoubles its commitment to improving shared mobility access through a powerful transportation demand management platform and insightful, science-driven commuter programs.

The RideAmigos platform provides employers and commuters with powerful tools they can use to launch and manage effective TDM programs. Its capabilities include strong and complete support for shared mobility solutions, including public transportation, company rideshare programs, and community-wide transportation initiatives.

RideAmigos also helps clients design, refine, and launch effective commuter programs that draw heavily on proven insights from the field of behavioral science. As a result of our scientific focus, our programs tend to generate higher participation rates and succeed more readily at inspiring commuters to make long-term changes to their transportation habits.

To learn more, please contact RideAmigos.

RideAmigos Awarded US Department of Transportation Funding for its Blockchain-Based Commuter Incentive System

The project is one of only 12 to receive the agency’s coveted Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards in 2022.

SANTA MONICA, August 2, 2022 Commute management technology leader RideAmigos received Phase I funding by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for research and development of a novel incentivization system designed to optimize utilization of transit and other transportation infrastructure.

The SBIR Program, managed by USDOT’s innovation-focused Volpe Center, incentivizes small businesses to pursue innovative research and development work that has the potential for broad commercialization and adoption. According to the USDOT, the highly selective program funds projects that “address advanced innovative concepts from [small businesses] with strong capabilities in applied science or engineering.” Funding awards are made in two phases, with the possibility of a third phase leading to commercialization and special federal procurement status.

“We are honored to receive the support of the USDOT for this moonshot project that we believe has the potential to change the way the public and private sectors work together to transform commuter transportation for a sustainable future,” RideAmigos CEO Soren Eilertsen said. “It is encouraging to see the USDOT pursuing this kind of research and development in its work to advance a more equitable, accessible, and inclusive transportation system.”

The project will complement Pave Commute, RideAmigos’ personal commute app for employees that uses sophisticated algorithms to recommend the best commute option based on individual needs and preferences, match commuters doing similar things, and reward them for making sustainable choices. The design combines an intuitive user experience with proven principles of behavioral science — including findings from cutting edge studies with researchers from Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight — as well as social elements, gamification, and advanced multimodal routing technology.

Among the goals of the blockchain project are the development of an innovative system for collecting mobility data and establishment of a market for public and private stakeholders to invest in managing demand for existing transportation infrastructure. This will enable players in the mobility supply chain — employers, local governments, transit agencies, and micromobility providers — to reward commuters, based on reliable data, for transportation choices that reduce congestion, emissions, and parking costs. Furthermore, insights from this data can also guide planning efforts to optimize new development and service decisions.

“With Pave Commute, we can meet every commuter where they are, and empower them to adopt new, more sustainable options. Organizations can increase the impact of the program by providing incentives, which the app distributes automatically to optimize use of available infrastructure,” said Corey Tucker, RideAmigos Director of Innovation and lead of the SBIR-funded project. “By leveraging blockchain technology to establish a secure, decentralized market, we can enable the full range of public and private stakeholders – including mobility providers and planning organizations – to participate.”

This year, other projects to receive SBIR Phase I funding from the agency focus on artificial intelligence, intelligent road systems, material safety, equity, and climate change.

The Pave Commute app is available to download in the Apple App Store and Google Play store and requires an employer subscription to sign up. Interested organizations can learn more at pavecommute.app.

About RideAmigos:

RideAmigos is a technology company on a mission to change the way the world commutes, for good. Our mobile and web-based commuter engagement solutions combine innovative technology with proven principles of behavioral science to empower everyone to make smarter transportation choices. Large employers, universities and government agencies use our products to reduce congestion, parking demand, and environmental impact while creating healthier, happier communities. We have helped our clients take tens of millions of cars off the road and reduce our collective CO2 footprint by over 280 million pounds. (http://www.rideamigos.com)