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3 Hospital Commuter Solutions that Reduce Solo Car Commutes and Save Money

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Looking to reduce vehicle trips to and around your hospital? Transportation demand management (TDM) is a great way to improve access, reduce pollution, and ease the costs associated with increased parking. Implementing some simple but effective hospital commuter solutions can measurable reduce the number of solo drivers traveling to and from your facility each day.

Here are three winning strategies that healthcare administrators around the country are already using to great success:

Pay employees to leave their cars at home

Regardless of the type of workplace, employers have great success with a simple but effective program: incentivize employees not to drive to work. The most successful employers offer cash in exchange for taking an alternative mode and passing up on parking. From payroll incentives to gift cards, and even paid time off, the right incentives lead to significant numbers of employees choosing  smart alternatives to solo driving.

Raise the cost of parking

Another straightforward, high-impact strategy for the hospital mobility ecosystem: make it more expensive for employees to park. For example, if you currently offer employees a discounted monthly parking pass, instead charge solo drivers regular daily parking rates.

This is a very effective strategy, but to avoid a mutiny, you need to pair this kind of initiative with hospital commuter solutions that make it less expensive for employees to use other modes. Rideshare matching paired with a guaranteed ride home programs is a great option, as is public transportation. To that end:

Your hospital commuter solutions should encourage public transit use

Hospitals are usually situated so they’re easily accessible via public transportation. Take advantage of this by offering to subsidize or fully fund monthly transit passes so your commuters can save money by taking the bus or subway to work instead of driving.

If local transit routes don’t serve your hospital particularly well, consider shuttle service as an option. Running private shuttles between the hospital and major public transportation hubs in the nearby area is a cost-effective and easy way to bridge service gaps.

For more tips on reducing solo car commuting, and for expert insights into your current lineup of hospital commuter solutions, talk to our experts to get started with RideAmigos today.

RideAmigos Founder Trades His Car for an E-bike

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Leading by example is an essential aspect of the RideAmigos philosophy. We aren’t just here to talk about smart alternatives to solo driving; we strive to put our values into action. Our team members are active participants in our internal commuter programs, and they’ve shown a remarkable level of commitment. More than half of our employees choose transportation modes other than solo driving most of the time, and one-quarter of our team never travels to work in a single-occupancy vehicle.

Embrace of alternative modes by our founders is a big part of the reason we’ve been able to foster such an exceptional company culture around commuting. Today, we’d like to highlight the forward-thinking transportation decisions of our co-founder and director Jeff Chernick, who made the bold move to divest himself of his car altogether. RideAmigos is based in Santa Monica, California, and if you’re familiar with the Los Angeles area, you know that navigating the city without a car is by no means the most common option. Jeff has persevered, and now does most of his local travel by e-bike. His story makes a great case study in the many benefits of embracing alternative modes of transportation.

In a recent interview, Jeff shed some light on what initially inspired his decision to get rid of his car. He talked about the daily cost of parking and monthly costs for car payments and insurance. When his car’s lease came up for renewal it was a great time to consider better ways to spend his money and time. After initially extending his lease for six months, Jeff decided to take the initial plunge and go for a car-free lifestyle.

“The first step was just to give up the car and start talking Lyft and Uber to work,” Jeff said. “I did the math, and I was spending around $300 a month on my lease, plus gas and insurance. It’s usually around $9 each way for a Lyft or Uber, and now I wouldn’t have to park.” So, round-trip transportation to and from work cost about $18 a day, but Jeff freed himself of $9 to $10 per day in parking costs.

“It just made sense,” Jeff continued. He commutes to the office three to four days per week, which averaged about $70 per week in ride-hailing expenses. That added up to about $280 to $300 per month, which was less than the combined cost of his car lease, insurance, and daily parking.

So, from the standpoint of commuting to work, ditching his car made sense to Jeff. But what about personal trips? “The bigger trips are definitely harder,” Jeff conceded. “It does add up, but I was already taking Lyft and Uber for some personal trips anyways.” Factoring those trips in, Jeff was basically breaking even switching from his own car to ride-hailing. However, he also discovered an added benefit of his new commuting mode: he was able to be more productive during his trip to work by taking phone calls, catching up on emails, and prepping for the day.

As time went on, Jeff became disenchanted with sitting in traffic, despite the added productivity time. One morning on his way to work, he noticed there was a bike path along the beach that covered virtually his entire commuting route. “I had been thinking about getting an e-bike for a really long time,” Jeff said. The mental wheels started turning, and after doing some research and consulting several other RideAmigos team members who own e-bikes, Jeff found a model he liked and pulled the trigger. (He picked out a Joulvert Playa Voyager – it’s got a backseat for your amigos!)

“[The bike] goes up to 22 miles per hour, and my new commute is essentially the same amount of time it would take to drive if there’s no traffic.” Jeff’s particular e-bike model retails for about $1,800, and he found that making the change vastly accelerated his cost savings because he’s reliably able to use his e-bike for both commutes and personal trips, given Southern California’s dry and sunny climate.

“It’s definitely life-changing,” Jeff said. Yet, there were some issues to be ironed out along the way, like assembling the e-bike he bought and learning how to use all its features properly. “My one recommendation is do our research, talk to friends and local shops, and if you do end up ordering online, get it delivered right to a local bike shop so they can put it together for you.” Jeff also points out that buying an e-bike from a traditional retail shop that is familiar with e-bikes has its benefits, like service and maintenance support. “You might get a better deal online, but the big pro of buying from a shop is the service.”

Jeff summed up his personal transportation transformation by saying, “I still use Uber and Lyft here and there. I still carpool. I mix it up. I don’t e-bike every single day. But every time I bike to work, I save $20, and that means this bike will pay for itself in just a few months.”

Here at RideAmigos, we know here are lots of people like Jeff who, with a little encouragement and some additional mobility resources, could skip the solo drive and embrace a car-lite or car-free lifestyle. It’s why we’re committed to providing tools and programs for organizations of all types to help them connect commuters, provide transportation options, and reward sustainable choices. If your organization is ready to reduce costs and environmental impact through smarter commuter solutions, let us know – we’re here to help.

Pro Tips for Safer City Cycling

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May is National Bike Month, which means you’re likely to see a sharp uptick in the number of cyclists on the road. If you’re planning to take part in the festivities, it’s essential that you brush up on your best practices for city cycling safety. This is especially true if you aren’t an experienced rider, or if you’re planning to hit the road on two wheels for the first time in a while.

First, and most importantly, make sure you have the right safety gear. A sturdy helmet designed specifically for cycling is a must-have. If you’re going to be riding during the pre-dawn or post-dusk hours, you should also wear a brightly colored, reflective safety vest over your clothing. Yellow and orange are highly visible colors, and are recommended.

Cars are legally obligated to pass you at a safe distance, often at least 3 feet, but the unfortunate reality is that drivers don’t always adhere to that requirement. To make things safer for you, follow these tips:

  • Be assertive without putting yourself at risk; don’t ride too close to the curb or parked cars, but don’t “boss your lane” unless it’s necessary for safety reasons
  • Actively scan the road in all directions, and anticipate unfolding traffic situations before they happen
  • Always ride defensively; motorists have tons of steel to protect them in the event of an accident, but you don’t
  • Avoid boxing yourself in, and if you don’t have a clear escape route in a particular road situation, reduce your speed dramatically
  • Be especially cautious around large vehicles – these drivers might have a more difficult time seeing you

City cycling safety experts also stress the importance of pre-planning your route. Take as many streets with dedicated or protected bike lanes as possible, and avoid major traffic corridors with high vehicle volumes to the greatest possible degree. If it’s possible to take a side street instead of a main road, do it.

Finally, always try to make eye contact with the drivers of turning vehicles as you approach them. This is the only way you can be sure that drivers have seen you. Also, to that end, don’t gamble on yellow lights. Turning drivers will be looking to clear the intersection before the light turns red, and you want to avoid entering the intersection after they’ve already committed to completing their turn.

Learn more about how to get the most out of National Bike Month!

 

How to Be a More Bike Friendly Employer

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With National Bike Month well underway, businesses across the country are seeing a surge in the number of employees who are interested in riding to work instead of driving. In years past, National Bike Month has prompted many employee transportation coordinators to consider how they can turn their organization into a more bike friendly employer. If you’re in that situation, there are many ways you get started in supporting active commuting in your workplace.

Here are four popular ideas:

Secure bike storage

Well-placed bike racks offer a low-cost way to encourage more people to ride to work rather than drive. To make the most of your investment, it’s best to place the bike storage area somewhere accessible only to employees, or at least somewhere that isn’t highly visible to passersby and the general public.

Make sure your racks allow for the easy and secure placement of bike locks, and that your racks are placed to shield bikes from rain and snow. Bike racks generally come in two varieties: freestanding racks that can be bolted down to durable surfaces and in-ground racks that are mounted in poured concrete.

If you’re looking to really impress your bicycle commuters, consider providing covered bike storage that is also protected from sun and rain, or even indoor bike storage for the highest level of convenience and security.

On-site showers and lockers

Biking delivers a healthy workout, especially for commuters who ride a long way. Nobody wants to spend their work day in sweaty clothes, and the prospect of doing so discourages a lot of would-be cyclists from ditching their cars.

The solution? Provide on-site showers and lockers for employees who want to embrace active commuting. That way, they can bring a change of clothes, shower when they arrive, and be fresh as a daisy when the work day begins.

Guaranteed ride home programs

A bike friendly employer also recognizes that emergencies and unexpected situations happen. If a commuter bikes to work, what do they do if the weather turns nasty or they suddenly have to get somewhere faster than their bike can carry them? Such anxieties are often cited as reasons commuters choose to drive instead of biking.

Guaranteed ride home programs are a great way to solve this problem, as they provide emergency rides for employees who use alternative modes of commuting. Typically commuters are offered a free ride home a specified number of times per year if an emergency situation arises. Rides are provided via vouchers, Uber or Lyft codes, or through a reimbursement system.

Ongoing Incentive Programs

Bike to Work Challenges are a great way to get commuters to try out a new way of commuting. However, ongoing bike-related incentives are important to keep them going. Options for incentive programs are as diverse as your imagination and resources, so check out these suggestions for bike-related incentives like point programs, raffles, and even earn-a-bike programs.

Running such bike friendly commuter programs can be complex and tedious unless you’re using commuter management software like RideAmigos. Contact us today to learn how we can help your organization become a bike friendly employer!

Bikeshare Programs Are Getting More Commuters Onto Two Wheels

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A growing number of cities, campus communities, and employers are embracing bikeshare programs as alternative commuting options. Bikes offer an environmentally-friendly mode of active transportation that puts practically no impact stress on the body’s joints, all while delivering a healthy dose of aerobic exercise. Yet, start-up costs can be a barrier to participation. A decent-quality commuter bike can easily cost several hundred dollars, which can seem like a significant investment if someone isn’t sure they’ll enjoy biking to work. This is one of the major reasons bikeshare networks have taken off in recent years.

While specifics vary, bikeshare programs generally work the same way. Most allow registered users to use a smartphone app to unlock a bike, ride for a pre-set length of time, then secure the bike at or near the rider’s destination, paying a nominal fee for the time the bike is in use. These programs offer a cost-effective advantage to commuters, as riders can access a bike for low pay-per-use rates, thus avoiding the need to sink hundreds of dollars into a bike of their own. It also solves other practical challenges, since riders don’t have to commit to bike ownership and thus don’t have to worry about issues like secure storage at home or on the road.

The leading bikeshare networks in the United States include:

  • Zagster: Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Zagster is one of the largest programs in the U.S., with more than 100 active programs currently in place.
  • Jump Bikes: This innovative system of dockless electric bikes was recently acquired by Uber.
  • Spin: Another dockless bikeshare system, Spin also launched an electric scooter-sharing program in recent months.
  • LimeBike: LimeBike is focused on creating a human-scale shared mobility fleet, including both traditional and electric bike options, e-scooters, and more.

The RideAmigos commuter management platform offers a wide range of features that can incorporate and complement bikeshare programs, making it an ideal tool for managing alternative commuting initiatives. RideAmigos works with employers, government agencies, educational institutions, and other organizations, and we’ve already played a leading role in the implementation of many successful commuter programs. If you’re looking for a for a toolkit to help manage emerging mobility options like bikeshares, fun challenges like National Bike Month, incentive programs, and more, get started with RideAmigos to find out what we can do for you.

Challenge Your Employees for Bike Month 2018

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National Bike Month, an annual tradition since 1956, is coming up in May. Sponsored nationally by the League of American Bicyclists, the National Bike Month event is designed to promote the many health and environmental benefits of cycling.

Each year, employers play a major role in National Bike Month’s success. Thousands of employers across the country hold friendly competitions and challenges designed to get their commuters actively participating. If you’re thinking of hosting a National Bike Month commuting challenge this year, we have a few tips that can help you encourage more robust participation rates.

Create Team-Based Competitions with Attractive Prizes

This go-to strategy is a surefire way to get the whole company engaged. Divide your commuter base up into teams, in whatever way works. For example, you could draw names at random, allow teams to self-select, or have teams for each department (accounting, human resources, etc.). Then, track team-based standings based on the number of bike commutes logged, or the number of miles biked, or both! Offer a prize to the team that wins the competition at the end of the month — something that will motivate people to keep taking part.

Add Smaller Weekly Prizes for Ongoing Engagement

It can be tough to keep people engaged if one team pulls way ahead in the standings, or if luck of the draw leaves another team with little hope of winning the month-long challenge. To encourage continued participation, offer smaller weekly prizes to teams or individuals that log the most trips or miles in each given week.

Run Raffles to Encourage Everyone

A similar strategy that also works well is to run a raffle draw for smaller prizes, giving participants one entry per logged bike commute. The drawings can be held weekly, giving everyone an incentive to participate at least a little bit. Of course, this strategy also rewards those who cycle frequently with more chances to win the draw, which is also a great motivator.

As always, the RideAmigos team is here to help with tools and tips to increase the reach and impact of your commuter programs, during National Bike Month and throughout the year. Please get in touch if we can help.

 

TDM + Local Bike Shops = ❤️

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Bicycle advocacy powerhouse People for Bikes recently shared a great blog post highlighting the mutual interests of transportation demand management (TDM) and local bike shops.

From TMA’s & TMO’s to universities, enterprises and municipalities, organizations concerned with shifting commuter behavior usually promote biking as a great alternative to single occupancy vehicle (SOV) commuting. In the TDM industry, we know bikes take up less space on roads and in parking lots, cut carbon emissions, and create happier commuters.

Local bike shops are also well aware of all these advantages of biking over driving, so for TDM programs looking for partners to help promote and empower bike commuting, local bike shops are a match made in transportation heaven.

The People for Bikes article mentions the success that our partner Sonos has had with their earn-a-bike program for employees, including partnering with local bike shops. The University of Louisville has also implemented a similar program for students who can trade parking passes for bikes.

When it comes to cycling-related TDM challenges and incentives, local bike shops are great resources for collaborations like prize donations and event leadership. Bike shops are eager to become known as the go-to location for local cyclists, especially new cyclists, and are often willing to be creative partners in bike-related TDM programming.

Here’s a great success story from the People for Bikes post:

Ginny Politz owns Bikesport in Trappe, Pennsylvania. When the Greater Valley Forge TMA approached her seeking prizes to distribute to local winners of the National Bike Challenge, Politz’s enthusiasm was instant. “I said ‘Yes, and why don’t we host a wine and cheese event to kick off the competition?'”

Bikesport’s early buy-in has paid off. “We are the only bike shop member, so they send everything our way. If they have a corporation contact them and say ‘we’d like to do a Lunch and Learn bike program,’ I get an email introducing me as the solution.”

Read more at the People for Bikes blog …

Meet the Bike Commuters of RideAmigos

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We don’t just help others with bike commuting, we practice it ourselves!

Over the course of Bike Month 2017, many members of the RideAmigos team took to two wheels and biked their way to their respective offices across the country. Some walked, others took transit, and as always we all tried to make solo driving our last choice, not our first. 100% of our Roanoke, VA office and 80% of our Bloomington, IN office bike commuted during May, and one of our executives made the decision to sell his car and invest in an e-bike!

 

As we wrap-up our Bike Month celebrations, we thought we’d highlight a few of our Amigos and their commuting efforts this month:

Corey Tucker – Partner Success Manager
Roanoke, VA

For the first time in a long time I live more than five miles from work, and instead of biking every day, I drive into the office a couple of days a week.  For bike to work month I wanted to make an effort to ride in, but had to figure out the best way to fit a 50 mile, one-way journey into my day.  Without enough light in the day to bike both ways, my fellow amigo, Matt McKimmy…who lives very close to the office, was generous enough to allow me to leave my car overnight so I could commute home one day, and back to the office the next.  One way, each day, on the bike.  Even with the best of intentions I was unable to find two consecutive days where I could sacrifice three hours to the bicycle until the last week of the month…and then it started raining.  Unwilling to give up on the dream I hopped on my bike one afternoon for a rainy 50 mile slog home…and again the next morning for a rainy 50 mile slog back to the office.  Luckily there was tasty hot chocolate waiting for me at the end.

Mark Stosberg – Senior Systems Engineer
Bloomington, IN

My Xtracycle cargo bike is convenient for hauling extra food and clothing supplies on Mondays and Tuesdays to support my run commutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays where I try to have a lighter load. On Wednesdays I telecommute and use the time saved commuting to run a mile to the elementary school with my kids instead of putting them on the bus. They love it and asked to keep a weekly run over the summer break.

By trading two bike commuting days per week for run commutes, I was able to find time to train for my first marathon two years ago. Now I’ve lost 30 pounds and placed first in my age group in a trail marathon this month. Although my age has only gone up, I’m in perhaps the best shape I’ve been in my life and most of my training miles come from active transportation.

Jeff Jackson – Marketing Manager
Roanoke, VA

I am not a cyclist. I rode a bike when I was a kid and very limited as an adult. For the month of May I was challenged to commute to work on a bike and I will admit I was not looking forward to the experience. The thought of adding time to my commute every day, being sweaty, and the risks of getting hit by a car or just not being aware and somehow hurting myself made me want to avoid this challenge altogether.

Now that the month is over, reflecting on my experience and I must say that my expectations were completely wrong. Since May first I have ridden on greenways, open roads all over the city, gone mountain biking on several trails and I have loved almost every ride. In the past month I have tried five different types of bikes, developed new friendships, seen more of the city, lost weight, improved my cardio, and rekindled a childhood-like joy that I had forgotten about.

I highly recommend everyone to try this for one month! The concerns that held me back were simply fears that weren’t true. The time I added to my commute was minimal, during the hottest days I never felt sweaty and I found that people were very respectful while I was on the road.

Matt McKimmy – Systems and Operations Manager
Roanoke, VA

In addition to biking and walking my 3-block commute for the entire month, I’ve also been actively involved in our local RideSolutions Ride Smart Challenge. While I’ve long been a bike commuter, this was my first time participating in a local challenge like this and contributing to the Sweaty Pedalers team victory was tremendous fun! In order to help encourage others to participate in bike month festivities my wife and I loaned a couple of our extra bikes to friends, which meant that most of the 70+ transportation miles I logged this month were on my super-capable (but also heavy) Yuba Mundo long-tail cargo bike.

Since I moved into the city in April, this bike month challenge was a great way to expedite learning the best bike routes around town, making new friends, and figuring out ways that I might be able to help others to see bikes as a great form of transportation. I have no doubt that I’ll bike more throughout the summer because of all the excitement and encouragement that were part of bike month.

Bike Month 2017 Collage

 

We hope all our partners and friends had great success with their Bike Month initiatives. If you’re looking for the perfect platform for running future bike challenges, bike-to-work incentive programs, and events, look no further than RideAmigos. We make it easy for people to shift away from solo driving and toward smarter, healthier commute options like biking, walking, carpooling, and more.

Find out how we can help make your Bike Month 2018 programs even more successful than this year’s – get started with RideAmigos today!

Health Benefits of Bike Commuting

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Leaving your car at home is definitely good for your mind, but it’s even better for your body.

This past April, researchers published a new study in the British Medical Journal that’s attracted a lot of attention in the transportation demand management space. The study, which was carried out by scientists in the United Kingdom, compared the relative health benefits of four common modes of commuting: driving, public transportation, walking, and cycling. Their conclusion? Cycling is, by a significant margin, the healthiest option.

The study’s key finding is that when practiced on a daily basis, pedal power reduces an individual’s risk of dying, from any disease or cause, by an amazing 41 percent. Researchers expected that cycling would prove to be the healthiest mode of transportation, given that it is the highest-intensity commuting option included in the study. However, even these seasoned scientists were surprised to learn just how dramatically it can improve a person’s physical health.

This particular study followed over 263,000 participants between the ages of 40 and 69 over a five-year period. Its methodology included controls to correct for lifestyle factors, age disparities, socioeconomic imbalances, and other important variables. The study also included a mixed-mode option, in which active forms of commuting, such as cycling and walking, were combined with inactive transportation options, such as public transit and driving. The conclusive trend held up even in this regard, with study participants who included biking as part of a mixed-mode commuting strategy showing a 24 percent decrease in mortality risk.

So what makes biking so beneficial? Study participants who biked to work generally had longer distances to cover than those who walked, giving them a longer and more intensive regular workout.

If you’re looking to promote an alternative to solo driving, biking is a great place to start. In addition, studies have also shown that shared modes of transportation, such as carpooling and public transportation, are also associated with both mental and physical health benefits. There’s room for a complete range of options in any complete commuter management strategy.

Thinking of this from an employer’s perspective, it’s worth noting that encouraging people to commute by bike can also benefit an organization’s bottom line due to such health benefits. That means biking to work is a win-win for both commuters themselves and the companies they work for! Which is a great reason to promote cycling both during Bike to Work month and year-round.

5 Ways Bike Commuting Benefits Your Bottom Line

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Bicycle commuting creates a positive impact on your organization

May is National Bike Month! In honor of the occasion, it’s time to highlight five often-overlooked ways that bicycle commuting delivers bottom-line benefits to businesses and organizations.

More bike commuters means less need for parking

Renting or building additional parking spaces to accommodate vehicles can be very costly. Many bicycles can fit in the space a car would normally occupy, and providing secure bicycle lock-ups and racks can be achieved for a small fraction of the cost of adding parking.

Cycling reduces stress

Research has shown that a single-occupancy vehicle is the most stressful way to get to and from work. Battling other drivers for space on congested highways and thoroughfares is never a great way to start the day.

Cycling, by comparison, is far less stressful. Studies indicate that those who choose smarter forms of transportation, including bicycles, improve their productivity in addition to reducing stress.

Bike commuters take fewer sick days

The British Medical Journal recently published a study showing that cycling is one of the healthiest ways to commute. It provides a great cardiovascular workout that helps support immune system function. Those who cycle to work are less likely to miss days due to illness, in large part because they tend to have better overall health than those who choose sedentary modes of transportation.

Cycling is a great team-building activity

A growing number of businesses are discovering the benefits of bikepools, in which more experienced riders team up with lesser experienced bike commuters to show them the ropes of urban cycling. Bikepools offer an organic, engaging way to promote camaraderie, collaboration, and friendship, all of which help create a more unified work environment.

It boosts organizational credibility

Eco-friendly values are proving to deliver major branding and image-boosting benefits for businesses. By promoting and encouraging bike-based commuting, businesses can build a better public image, attract higher-quality employees and do a better job of retaining talent.

Moreover, you’ll connect with a broader base of potential customers, as market research is showing that people are increasingly choosing products and services delivered by businesses that share their values.

To learn more about how your organization can benefit from a higher rate of bike commuting, and get proven tools for promoting cycling as an alternative to driving, let us know you’re ready to get started with RideAmigos!