Riding Together for School Carpools: RideAmigos and GoKid Partner Up

The team at RideAmigos is thrilled to announce an exciting new partnership aimed at making morning commutes smoother, reduce the impact of school transportation on traffic and air quality, and support data-driven transportation demand management initiatives. GoKid, the leading school carpool solution, is teaming up with RideAmigos Commute Hub to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing our communities today: school traffic.

Why school carpooling?

You’ve probably noticed the morning rush hour chaos around schools, with cars lining up to drop off kids. This is contributing to congestion, emissions, and safety concerns. The cause is clear. According to a 2022 National Household Travel Survey, more than half of U.S. students are driven to school, adding to traffic jams and pollution levels. 

A nationwide shortage of school bus drivers has aggravated the situation, and there are no signs of this trend reversing. School carpooling is an important transportation demand management strategy and a way schools and planning agencies can empower families to safely get their kids to school. 

How we can help

RideAmigos and GoKid are joining forces to empower agencies and school districts to collaborate more closely to provide schools and families with access to school carpooling, and measure the impact in terms of reduced emissions and vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) as part of a comprehensive transportation demand management strategy.  

GoKid is already on the ground, working directly with schools and districts in 12 states, and has scheduled 1.4 million secure carpooling trips among parents. Their solution, GoKid Connect helps families connect, organize school carpools, and track metrics like miles saved and reduced greenhouse gasses.

RideAmigos Regional Commute Hub is the hub for transportation demand management that lets agencies, TMAs, employers, and schools work together on programs to influence mode shift and improve regional mobility. Now, schools that license GoKid Connect will have the option to collaborate with planning agencies using RideAmigos Commute hub to measure shared impact.

When they do, planning agencies will be able to get a clearer picture of the impact of school carpool programs they support using RideAmigos Commute Hub reporting tools. This means smarter decisions, better collaboration, and, ultimately, fewer cars on the road during peak hours.

“The impact of daily individual school transportation on overall congestion and regional mobility can’t be understated,” said Soren Eilertsen, CEO at RideAmigos. “We are proud to offer our state and regional agency partners another data-driven way to connect school traffic reduction with their broader regional mode-shift programs through our partnership with GoKid.”

“The reduction of school buses due to budget cuts and the bus driver shortage is increasing pressure on communities to offer an alternative transportation solution to students,” said Stefanie Lemke, CEO at GoKid. “We are excited to partner with RideAmigos to offer our GoKid Connect carpool program to schools and districts in regions implementing RideAmigos’ data-driven transportation demand management programs.”

Learn more

The launch of this partnership couldn’t come at a better time. With traffic levels rebounding post-pandemic and school bus shortages exacerbating the situation, now is the time to act. This partnership supports our public agency customers in building a safe, sustainable, and more equitable future for our communities.

Are you a Regional Commute Hub manager ready to connect? Or do you want to know if schools in your region are using or considering GoKid? Get started today by contacting our sales team or reaching out to your customer success manager.

 

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.

How to Make Transportation Incentives Work Better on Limited Budgets

Transportation incentives are programs local transportation and public transit authorities create to encourage people to choose alternatives to solo driving, like carpooling, vanpools, and public transit. Because driving alone is a default habit in many places, incentives are one important strategy to drive modeshift. Common examples include things like:

  • Free public transportation on certain days
  • Access to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on highways or toll rebates
  • Rewards programs
  • Loyalty programs
  • Parking cash-out
  • Access to preferred parking or free electric vehicle charging

While transportation incentives generally have a beneficial impact, default strategies have some noteworthy limitations. First, they tend to reward people who are already using smart alternatives to solo driving instead of encouraging single-occupancy vehicle operators to change to another mode. They also stagnate by failing to engage participants over the long term while offering financial rewards that do not provide enough motivation. Typically, this results from budgetary limitations.

So, how can you make transportation incentives more appealing without driving up their costs? We have identified four effective strategies:

  • Targeted campaigns: Data-driven insights offer a cost-effective way to determine who is already participating in the preferred behavior and what groups can be targeted for a behavior shift. Don’t go after those who are already using smart alternatives. Instead, save your resources for those who aren’t.
  • Randomness: Build participants’ anticipation for rewards through randomness: use techniques like raffles and draws for major prizes to get people excited about taking part. Randomness also helps fight program stagnation by introducing an element of excitement and uncertainty.
  • Normalization and framing: Create sustained marketing and public awareness campaigns that frame smart alternatives to solo driving as normal, popular, and increasing in popularity.
  • Self-image: People are motivated not only by financial rewards, but also by their identity. For example, cycling enthusiasts can often be convinced to start biking to work fairly easily. Knowing the identity characteristics of your target audience can give program effectiveness a big boost.

Our experts can suggest many other techniques and strategies to help make your transportation incentives that much more appealing while keeping your budget under control. If you would like a free assessment of your existing programs, the entire RideAmigos team is here to help you get started.

The Shared Mobility Action Agenda for 2030: Core Objectives

The car-centric culture that developed during the 20th century has well-documented negative impacts on communities, the economy, air quality, and climate. As part of our continued commitment to driving sustainable changes in the mobility landscape, RideAmigos has joined the Shared Mobility Action Network in support of its ambitious agenda for shared mobility in 2030.

The Shared Mobility Action Agenda is a project spearheaded by the Shared-Use Mobility Center. More than 50 high-profile businesses, public-sector organizations, and nonprofit groups have already pledged their participation. The primary objective is to advocate for dramatic, mass-scale improvements in access to sustainable and shared modes of transportation by 2030.

However, the Shared-Use Mobility Center and its partner organizations are not relying on passive approaches to achieve the agenda’s objectives. Instead, the Shared Mobility Action Agenda is built around seven tangible, action-oriented steps to realize its foundational goal.

These include:

Infrastructure Investments

Sustainable mobility has emerged as an increasingly high-profile public issue in recent years while also making inroads among policymakers. However, investments in shared mobility and other forms of sustainable transportation continue to lag behind. As a consequence, privately owned low-occupancy vehicles continue to persist as a default choice, to the detriment of both the environment and to the physical and mental health of those who rely on them.

The Shared Mobility Action Agenda seeks to make investments in sustainable infrastructure a compulsory component of all publicly funded transportation projects. Over time, such a policy would significantly expand sustainable transportation’s footprint and lead to dramatic improvements in its accessibility, practicality, and performance.

Technology Investments

Many shared forms of mobility depend on information technologies, and especially on mobile technologies. A clear example can be seen in the dramatic rise in enterprise and organizational ridesharing programs since the dawn of the smartphone age.

Technology-driven information systems are critical tools for an inclusive, equitable, accessible, and high-functioning shared mobility network. The Shared Mobility Action Agenda advocates for strong, targeted investments in the technological and informational infrastructure needed to bring sustainable transportation solutions into the communities where they are most needed.

Incentives and Support Structures for Shared Mobility

It isn’t easy to get people to make the switch from the perceived convenience of their privately owned vehicles to more sustainable and shared alternatives. Policymakers typically use one of two general approaches to prompt commuters and citizens to make changes: “the stick” and “the carrot.”

Strategies built around “the stick” penalize people for choosing solo driving when alternatives are available. Examples include congestion fees, route tolls, and increased parking costs.

Conversely, approaches based on “the carrot” do the opposite by offering perks and rewards to those who voluntarily choose to ditch the solo drive. As a driver of long-term behavior change, transportation demand management experts generally consider “the carrot” to be the more effective of the two strategic paradigms.

To this end, the Shared Mobility Action Agenda seeks to create incentive programs and distribute access products that will connect households with sustainable transportation options. The underlying theory is that such efforts will reduce and remove the barriers that impede people from shifting modes, thus encouraging higher participation levels in shared and sustainable alternatives.

Metrics and Measurement Standards

A relative lack of standardized metrics for quantifying the community-based impacts of shared mobility programs is one of the main reasons why public investment in these programs continues to lag. In order to justify meaningful investments in sustainable transportation infrastructure, policymakers need to convince the public that investments and expenditures will generate positive returns. Such justifications cannot be made without metrics that specifically measure those returns.

The Shared Mobility Action Agenda seeks to create standards for statistically tracking the ways in which sustainable transportation investments make communities more inclusive. The project also seeks to scale up the use of these statistical metrics so that their positive impacts can be extended beyond the local level.

Reducing Lifecycle Carbon Emissions

On the topic of metrics and measurements, the project also seeks to establish standardized methods for quantifying the carbon emissions reductions achieved by shared mobility vehicles, programs, and technologies. The Shared-Use Mobility Center and its partners believe this will best be done by directly comparing shared modes with legacy modes. This will create “apples to apples” and “oranges to oranges” comparisons, which will more effectively illustrate shared mobility’s positive and quantifiable benefits.

Another positive application of this agenda item relates to its ability to track the emissions levels generated by shared modes and systems in a standardized manner. This, in turn, will facilitate the future development of initiatives and technologies that can further reduce their lifecycle carbon emissions.

Innovative Shared Mobility Funding Models

As with many policy issues, funding and financial feasibility play a major role in deciding which programs receive strong support and which do not. To reflect this reality, the Shared Mobility Action Agenda also seeks to identify and develop novel financing models for building and expanding access to sustainable transportation alternatives.

Expert observers note that many different stakeholders can play a meaningful role in the creation and operation of shared mobility networks. Examples include not only governments and employers, but also transportation authorities, transit operators, land developers, investors, and providers of information technology infrastructure, among others.

The Agenda seeks to find new ways to encourage collaboration among these and other actors, which will hopefully lead to sustained improvements in financing access and funding availability.

Institutional Realignment

The seventh and final action item on the Agenda’s list covers institutional change. Without a foundational commitment to shared mobility and transportation equity at the institutional level, meaningful and long-lasting change cannot be realized.

For this reason, the Shared Mobility Action Agenda considers changing institutional perspectives and processes to be a critical key to the initiative’s success. The Agenda therefore seeks to engage public- and private-sector institutions as part of a broader program to make sustainable mobility alternatives an economically viable and affordable option for people of all income levels and socioeconomic brackets.

Projected Results

The Shared Mobility Action Agenda has instituted a timeline of 2030 for achieving these objectives. By making progress in each of the seven aforementioned areas, shared mobility has the potential to become:

  • More available and reliable
  • More accessible and equitable
  • More economically and environmentally sustainable

The program’s general vision is to make shared and sustainable mobility options better and easier than driving a car.

Members of the Shared Mobility Action Network gather at the National Shared Mobility Summit in Chicago, May 2023.

RideAmigos Is One of More Than 50 Participants in the Shared Mobility Action Agenda for 2030

As of the date of this post’s publications, more than 50 high-profile public, private, and nonprofit organizations have made formal partnership commitments to the Shared Mobility Action Agenda. Members include:

  • Mobility providers
  • Rideshare companies
  • Nonprofits
  • Municipal governments like Grand Rapids, MI; Arlington, VA; Boston, MA; and Denver, CO
  • Transit agencies
  • Technology companies
  • Planning firms

RideAmigos is proud to participate in the Agenda’s important work, which reflects our organization’s shared values and objectives. To learn more about the Shared Mobility Action Agenda, please visit the Shared-Use Mobility Center or visit the Agenda’s official website.

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. Connect with our experts here.

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.

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)

User Research and Behavioral Science: Insights to Help Change Commuters’ Behavior

Pave Commute’s Austria-based head of technical research, Florian Daniel, recently appeared on the Product by Design podcast to discuss user research, behavioral science, and how they can be used to change commuters’ behavior. The podcast focused on behavioral science’s ability to generate insights that help solve difficult problems, and its growing set of applications in the transportation demand management (TDM) space.

The Motivation to Change Commuters’ Behavior

Florian lives in the mid-size Austrian city of Linz. He became motivated to help change commuters’ behavior by a combination of personal experience and a desire to improve his community.

Car-based commuting remains a leading default mode in the Linz area, particularly for people who live outside the city proper and need to travel in for work. Congestion is a major problem on weekdays: traffic snarls are commonplace, and it negatively impacts commuters’ quality of life. People in Linz also regularly use cars to travel distances that could easily be covered on a bicycle.

These two factors prompted Florian to focus his efforts on improving rideshare rates in the city and encouraging commuters to shift to active transportation modes.

Behavioral Psychology and Changing Commuters’ Behavior

Car-centric commuter culture is a deeply ingrained phenomenon, with many people continuing to engage in it out of a combination of habit and convenience. Florian notes that the key to success is not to get commuters to try a different mode, but to get them to stick with a new, more sustainable way of getting to work over the long term.

To that end, Florian emphasizes that commuter apps like the Pave Commute platform are capable of giving users the “nudge” they many need to make their mode shifts permanent. One key reason is that Pave Commute allows end users to see the quantifiable impact they are having by using alternatives to solo driving. This helps reinforce positive feelings about more sustainable commuting choices, which can go a long way toward driving lasting ways of changing commuters’ behavior.

Emphasizing the Positive Impacts of Mode Shift

Florian also touched on the multiple ways in which encouraging employees to shift modes stands to create both individual and organizational benefits. He used the example of a mid-size company, in which 90% of employees commute by car.

Encouraging even 10% of those commuters to change modes would create a dramatic reduction in the company’s parking requirements. This, in turn, would enable the business to repurpose unused parking spots into a green space for team members to enjoy during meal and break times. Employees would have a more enjoyable work environment, which stands to have a positive effect on their overall mindset and job satisfaction.

A similar principle applies to individual commuters. As anyone who regularly drives to work through a congested area knows, it isn’t much fun to be stuck in a car sitting in traffic. Walking and cycling are much more fun, and they’re also healthier. Shared modes allow commuters to shift their attention from driving onto other tasks, which could improve their productivity or allow them to create a more meaningful mental “buffer zone” between their work and personal lives.

The Value of Research in TDM Product Development

Florian characterizes his technical research role as a kind of bridge between the software development and business development sides of Pave Commute. Interestingly, he notes that research plays a critical role in securing the necessary funding to develop next-generation TDM products.

Building a business case for carrying out user research in the interests of getting cars off the road is a straightforward proposition. Funding grants also enable TDM product developers to liaise with academic experts at universities and other institutions, which generates more authoritative and valuable results.

The Ongoing Need for Continued Product Adaptation

Florian’s experiences also point to the necessity of looking at TDM platforms as dynamic creations that need to change and grow over time. Sometimes, he notes, the development team will be excited about a new software feature or integration, only to see it not perform as intended when actual users engage with it. The accompanying learning process reinforces the idea that TDM is an ever-changing field that requires constant revisiting of core concepts and established methods of achieving results.

Where Things May Be Headed

Florian also weighs in on the established and emerging dynamics that stand to impact both transportation policy and the commuter experience in North America, Europe, and beyond. One major such factor is the increased regulatory activity focused on mitigating the negative impacts of climate change.

In Florian’s opinion, policy efforts should focus primarily on employers, who should be tasked with providing their team members with a flexible set of more sustainable commuting options. Approaches that use the proverbial “stick” to punish individual commuters based on their transportation choices are, in his opinion, divisive and therefore less desirable.

Autonomous vehicles could also prove to be a game-changer in the not-too-distant future. They hold the impact to dramatically reduce the number of user-operated vehicles on the road, especially during peak commuting times.

Get Engaged and Help Change Commuters’ Behavior with Pave Commute

RideAmigos solutions like Pave Commute help organizations build happier, more sustainable, and more productive work environments with user-friendly and effective commuter management products. Commuter benefits are a low-cost, high-impact perk that make a meaningful difference in the everyday lives of team members.

Our platform can help change commuters’ behavior through an innovative combination of applied behavioral science, artificial intelligence, and advanced mobile technology. To learn more, or to discover our platform’s potential to benefit your workplace, please contact us to get started.

Why #ACT2022 Might be the Best ACT International Conference Yet! 

   

Whether you’re packing for Chicago or not, here’s a pre-event cheat sheet for what’s happening next week. 

At RideAmigos, we have always been fans of virtual events because they are accessible for everyone and can have much less negative environmental impact. It bears mentioning that the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) put on some really high-quality virtual events over the last two years, and is taking steps to offset carbon emissions for this year’s in-person gatherings. Having said all that… we are SO EXCITED to see so many TDM leaders in person again! 

With four days of content and networking, including some really valuable pre-conference sessions, our delegation will be splitting up to see as much as we can and taking notes to share with colleagues around the world when we get home.  

Keynotes

ACT always pulls together an excellent lineup of speakers and this year is no exception. On Monday, the opening plenary session will feature a keynote presentation by Ryan McCarty of Culture of Good that is sure to remind us all of the purpose behind the important work of the TDM community. We’ll be listening in for inspiration and for Ryan’s practical insights into leading a movement of change before we dive into the rest of the conference programming.  

In Tuesday’s plenary session, we are pleased to be sponsoring a discussion of the future of TDM in Chicagoland, featuring four amazing transportation leaders. The panel, moderated by Matthew Meservy, Director of Long Range Planning Division, at the TennesseeDepartment of Transportation, includes Erin Aleman of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), Gia Biagi of the City of Chicago’s Department of Transportation (CDOT), Jesse Elam of Cook County’s Department of Transportation and Highways, and Roberto Requejo of Elevated Chicago, an organization working at the intersection of racial equity, health, climate, and art and culture to promote frameworks for equitable transit-oriented development (ETOD) in Chicago. Chicago has always been a planner’s city, and this keynote session is sure to highlight some ambitious and forward-looking approaches to TDM for the next several decades. 

Sessions

If you’re looking at the program on the conference website or in the Whova app, and wishing you could clone yourself to attend two sessions at once, we see you! There is way too much great content to mention in this post, but we polled our team to learn what they’re most excited about. 

Pre-conference workshops

This year, ACT lined up some really valuable pre-conference workshops that come with TDM-CP credit. Whether you’ve already aced your TDM-CP exam, or are just starting out in the field, these workshops before the main event are going to be well worth the additional fee. 

  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 101 and Understanding Implicit Bias (Sunday at 9:00am). This half-day workshop featuring David Sorrell, TDM-CP of University of California Berkeley, Kiki Dohman of Salem Area Mass Transit District, and Catherine Popowits of Diversity Training  & Consulting, Inc. will help participants gain awareness of the unconscious bias and misunderstanding that can impede our ability to have the equitable positive impact we intend with in our work. It will also focus on strategies to improve communication and inclusion for a diverse range of stakeholders. Work on this is never done, and we can’t think of a better way to reset your perspective ahead of the next three days of learning!
  • Shifting Traveler Behaviors with Motivational Interviewing (Sunday at 9:00am). Another excellent pre-conference workshop going on at the same time is focused on motivational interviewing strategies and their applications for TDM. Anton Cox of Capital Area Council of Governments and Kate Harrington of Movability Austin will discuss the technique and the science behind it. The team at Movability Austin has long been teaching and using these skills as part of their outreach, and these two Austin-area TDM leaders will help participants learn to use them too.

If you’re just getting to town on Sunday morning, you can still catch an expert-led workshop on grant writing or a session to prepare emerging leaders for larger roles in ACT chapter and council leadership; both in the afternoon.

Conference Sessions

The main course of TDM content really gets started after the opening plenary on Monday. If you’re attending with a group, do what we did and make a shared list of all the sessions your team wants to attend, and put names by each one to ensure it’s all covered. After an event like this, we always debrief with the whole team and have each attendee share important takeaways so everyone can benefit. 

Here are a few sessions on our must-see list: 

  • How TMAs Generate Value-add with Non-Traditional Groups (Monday at 1:30pm). Chris Bongorno, Allison Simmons, Michelle Reynolds, and Julia Wean are experts who lead and consult with TMAs around the country. In this unique session, they’ll discuss how TMAs they work with are developing partnerships and programs to serve hard-to-reach populations and address non-traditional TDM needs and add value for their communities.
  • Shaping ACT’s Policy Platform for the Future of TDM (Monday at 1:30pm). We’re looking forward to this presentation of ACT’s Public Policy Committee’s 2022 Policy Cornerstones. This is a pivotal time for investment in TDM and shared transportation and ACT has a key role to play. Presenters include Jessica Alba, TDM-CP, Stanford University’s Director of Policy & TDM, along with Rob Henry, TDM-CP of GVF, Andrew Glass Hastings of TransWest, and Dion Beuckman of Commute with Enterprise.
  • Employer-based TDM in a hybrid world (Monday at 3:15). Employers have powerful influence over employee commute choices, and research backs the idea that commuters that receive employer support are more likely to make sustainable transportation choices. Learn from leaders of the Denver region’s successful TDM programs how to launch a successful, employer-driven trip reduction program. Panelists include Nisha Mokshagundam and Kalie Fallon of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), and Sheryl Machado and Evan Gatseos, from Denver South TMA.
  • TDM-CP Information Session (Monday at 3:15pm ) Have you thought about working toward a Transportation Demand Management Certified Professional (TDM-CP) certification? Heather Salem, Aaron Buckley, and Jamila Owens (who have all earned the letters) explain the certification, its potential benefits for your career, and the process candidates follow to prepare and take the exam.
  • The Secret to Moving Employees to Shared Transit (Tuesday at 10:30am). The commute has become even more complicated for employees returning to campus after a long stretch of working remotely. The panelists leading transportation programs of three large employers in the San Francisco Bay Area will discuss how their organizations are rising to the occasion to manage the commute experience, leverage public transportation options, and incentivize employees to get out of single occupancy vehicles. With each enterprise offering a broad range of programs, this session will focus on the ways they incorporate on-demand technology to improve access. Krista Glotzbach of Via will moderate a discussion with panelists, Danielle Glaser, Global Transportation Manager at LinkedIn, Mandy Basile, Senior Transportation Program Manager at Genentech, and Sabrina Ruiz, Regional Transportation Program Manager at Google. Global Transportation Program Manager
  • Water Transit Is Making Waves In TDM (Tuesday at 10:30am) A boat is the best way to get to some workplaces! Where bridges are also an option, they might be filling up with traffic again. In this session, panelists will show you how their commuter ferry services create additional ways for commuters to move efficiently. Are you missing an opportunity to make use of water transportation to your campus or community?  Panelists include Heather Salem, TDM-CP of Genentech in South San Francisco, Patrick Sullivan, TDM-CP of Seaport TMA in Boston, and Andrew Sargis of Chicago Water Taxi.
  • How to Establish and Implement a TDM Ordinance (Tuesday at 10:30am). Washington D.C. area TDM leaders Samantha Huff (Foursquare ITP), Mariana Budimir (District Department of Transportation), and Michael Watts (DOES/Office of Wage-Hour) share invaluable experience with establishing the DC Commuter Benefits Law and the DC Parking Cashout Law, also known as the Transportation Benefits Equity Amendment Act of 2020. The presentation will cover goal setting, implementation, outreach and marketing strategies, and how to effectively monitor compliance with reductions of single-occupant vehicle travel to employer sites.

Wrapping up

Before we see who takes home the ACT National Awards for 2022 on Wednesday morning, we’re excited to host almost 200 TDM leaders at the return of the RideAmigos Closing Night Party on Tuesday evening. This year (perhaps inspired by the theme of water transit?) we’ll be celebrating a successful conference on Chicago’s Emerald Lady. This event will be oversubscribed – at the time we’re writing this we already have a waitlist and we’re working with the cruise operator to increase capacity – so we hope to see everyone who signed up! 

For those of you heading to Chicago, travel safely! We would love to connect while we’re there – contact us to set up a time or find us in the expo (we’ll be at Booth 102).

Get There Oregon 2022 Survey: Key Takeaways for Commuter Programs and the Employee Experience

The employee experience has emerged as a critical topic of focus among enterprises in recent months. Over the course of 2021 and into 2022, U.S. workers voluntarily left their jobs at never-before-seen rates. The phenomenon, dubbed the Big Quit or the Great Resignation, triggered alarm bells in boardrooms across the country. Executives and human resource professionals began digging into the reasons for the trend, with many finding their own shortcomings as employers a key driver of the exodus. It will come as no surprise to those in the transportation demand management (TDM) industry that subsequent discussions surrounding strategies for improving employee job satisfaction and retention rates came to include commuter programs.

A widely cited 2018 survey found that 23% of U.S. workers had quit a job at least once because of a difficult or stressful commute. Daily commuting woes are a common experience for members of the workforce, something the COVID-19 pandemic only intensified. As COVID-19 spread, commuting moved past being an inconvenient hassle to a potential health risk.

Surveys aiming to take the proverbial temperature of post-pandemic U.S. commuters have yielded interesting results from a TDM perspective. One such effort, carried out on behalf of the rideshare organization Get There Oregon in 2022, queried more than 200 human resources professionals around the state about their priorities and their perception of trends affecting the workforce. The collected data put a bright spotlight on important role commuter programs stand to play in an age of heightened awareness of the importance and value of the employee experience.

Key Findings of the Get There Oregon 2022 Commuter Survey

Solving Recruitment and Employee Retention Problems Is a Top Priority for Businesses

While U.S. workers walking out of their jobs in mass numbers was one of the most consequential business stories of 2021, there’s more to the Big Quit than resignations. Companies have also struggled to recruit new employees to replace those who have left their jobs, creating a unique situation with no easy answers.

Employee Priorities Are Changing

Companies used to address recruitment and retention challenges mainly by throwing money at their problems. However, employee priorities are shifting in new directions in the post-pandemic landscape. For many workers, the employee experience has emerged as a more powerful motivator than money. Get There Oregon’s 2022 survey data reveals that companies have responded by placing more emphasis than ever on job satisfaction, mood and morale, and employee health and wellness.

Employees Want Effective Commuter Programs

Businesses seeking to improve the employee experience can focus on two areas identified by survey respondents as ranking among employees’ top concerns. Get There Oregon’s 2022 polling found that employees want effective relief from their daily commute-related struggles. In a related finding, researchers also found that people teams expect businesses to provide ongoing opportunities to split time between on-site and offsite work.

Long-Term Remote Work Seems Likely

Get There Oregon reports that 81% of polled HR representatives expected their organizations to allow team members to work remotely some or all of the time on a long-term or permanent basis. This could signal a generational shift in the commuting landscape.

Allowing Remote Work Could Ease Recruitment Troubles

In addition to adjusting their recruitment and retention efforts for the post-pandemic landscape, Get There Oregon’s 2022 survey also found that allowing remote work on a long-term basis stands to benefit their people teams in many other ways. A majority of the HR professionals who participated in the survey said that hybrid and remote work generally offers employees a better work-life balance. This, in turn, improves their job satisfaction and makes it more likely that they will make a long-term commitment to the employer.

What Does the Get There Oregon 2022 Survey Reveal About Commuter Programs?

Get There Oregon’s 2022 survey has profound implications for commuter programs. It demonstrates how businesses that make meaningful investments in an improved employee experience stand to navigate ongoing recruitment and retention challenges with greater ease, and at a lesser cost. The survey also reveals the crucial importance of making support for hybrid and offsite work a central focus of modified post-pandemic commuter programs.

At the same time, businesses should still focus on providing meaningful commuter supports to their on-site team members. There are many ways companies can make life easier for their commuters, and [[RIDEAMIGOS/PAVE COMMUTE]] assists clients by providing advanced analytical insights and high-performing technology tools.

Turbocharge Your Post-Pandemic Commuter Programs with [RideAmigos/Pave Commute]

[[Branded conclusion & call to action goes here]]