Posts

Partner Highlight – WayToGo

/0 Comments/in

Here at RideAmigos we’re always excited to see how our partner organizations are making the most of our commuter management tools. This month we’re featuring our partners at the Denver Regional Council of Governments and their WayToGo program.

WayToGo is transforming transportation for thousands of Denver-area commuters

RideAmigos is pleased to be the official provider of transportation demand management software for Denver’s WayToGo program, providing the power behind their MyWayToGo system. The WayToGo program is a regional partnership that pairs the Denver Regional Council of Governments with several local transportation management associations (TMAs) to provide local residents and commuters with a growing list of smart commuting options.

The key focus of the WayToGo program is to make alternative modes of transportation and commuting more accessible to area residents across as many demographics as possible. WayToGo applications serve both the public and private sectors in the Denver area, and current programs include:

  • Regional rideshare matching tools that pair commuters with local carpools and vanpools
  • Schoolpool programs that enhance school zone safety and offer students dependable two-way transportation on every school day
  • Practical support and resources for local cycling, walking, carshare, and flex-work initiatives

WayToGo also partners with local businesses to help build commuter programs that encourage more people to choose alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles. The program is also a proud partner and co-organizer of Denver’s annual Bike to Work Day.

Consistent year-over-year performance improvements bode well for WayToGo’s future

The WayToGo program has been generating impressive results since its inception, including an impressive string of years in which the program’s vehicle miles traveled (VMT) savings have increased. From 2014 to 2015 alone, WayToGo saw a 9 percent jump in VMT savings, rising from 12.8 million in 2014 to just under 14 million the following year. Projections indicate these trends will continue into the foreseeable future.

Also of note in 2015:

  • The number of WayToGo-registered vanpools increased by 13 percent, to a total of 114 throughout the Denver metro area
  • 17,890 families were enrolled in WayToGo’s schoolpool program by year’s end, marking a 6 percent increase
  • 1,018 employers provided Guaranteed Ride Home taxi vouchers to 119,500 local commuters who elected to bike, walk, carpool, vanpool, or take transit to work
  • Overall participation in Denver’s Bike to Work Day rose 12 percent year-over-year, and included 32,805 participants

WayToGo is currently focused on four primary initiatives: increasing awareness, boosting the number of registrations, encouraging more commuters to commit to alternative modes of travel, and making smart commuting a bigger part of the local commuter culture.

The RideAmigos software platform has been a major supporter of the WayToGo program’s sustained success, with our comprehensive range of end-user features and administrator planning, tracking, and reporting tools.

Does your organization want to have a bigger impact on how commuters think of and use transportation? Contact RideAmigos today for a free analysis of your commuter programs.

Tips From Google For Planning a Successful Bike-to-Work Program

/0 Comments/in

Use this recipe from our friends at Google to build a fantastic bike to work campaign

We were recently joined by Lucy Tice, TDM Program Manager from Google, for a RideAmigos Academy Coffee Talk. Lucy and her colleagues were kind enough to share the recipe they used to get hundreds of Google employees on board with the company’s bike to work program. Now we’re going to pass it along to you!

  1. Create a survey. Find out how many people might potentially be interested in biking to work, how far their commute would be, and how experienced they are with cycling.
  2. Divide into segments. Google’s survey yielded four distinct segments within their prospect pool: “brave and fearless,” “enthusiastic and confident,” “interested with reservations,” and “not happening.” See how many members of your organization fall into similar groups.
  3. Choose a focus. Concentrate promotional and marketing efforts towards the segment that comprises the most valuable slice of the prospect pool. For example, Google elected to direct its efforts toward getting the “interested with reservations” group onto the participation side of the fence, since about 60% of survey respondents fell into that category.
  4. Set up a challenge. Engage individuals and/or teams by creating friendly competitions to see who can tally the greatest number of trips and/or miles during the campaign. You can also divide into networks and groups to take advantage of team spirit. 
  5. Add incentives. Prizes for the individuals and/or teams that lead the pack can be advertised at the beginning of the campaign to provide an extra spark of motivation. 
  6. Start promoting. Keeping your focus segment in mind, use a full range of communication channels to put the word out about the incentivized bike to work campaign. By giving out some rewards early in the program you can increase the likelihood of winners sharing about your program.
  7. Evaluate the results. Using this recipe, Google got over 800 people on board with their challenge and racked up more than 15,000 bike trips. 

Learn more about Google’s bike-to-work program at the RideAmigos Academy: Beyond Bike to Work Day, How Google is Expanding TDM Programs Using RideAmigos

Our industry-leading RideAmigos commuter management software platform is the perfect backbone to create, promote, and administer bike to work campaigns, enabling a ripple-effect of long-lasting, positive impact on commuter behavior. It’s a fantastic tool, loaded with features that support route planning, bike- & carpool matching, challenges & incentives, community management, data analysis, and much more. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you transform transportation within your organization.