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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.

How to Get University Employees to Carpool

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Helpful tips for getting university employees to carpool more often

Universities face a unique set of challenges with regard to car-based commuting. At educational institutions, administrators often face rising year-over-year demand for limited parking facilities. Building new parking structures is very expensive. Given that reality, a growing number of schools are using their resources to get more university employees to carpool instead.

While some schools have overlooked employee carpooling and commuter programs in the past in favor of focusing primarily on student transportation needs, that is quickly changing. Administrators are realizing that employee carpool initiatives provide several key benefits. They offer excellent starting points like being convenient, engaging frequent commuters, and delivering outstanding cost-to-benefits ratios.

Colleges and universities typically employ hundreds if not thousands of staff and faculty members, giving them large communities to work with. This means university carpool programs are an excellent option to get more employees to carpool, especially when supported by proven strategies like:

  • Premium parking. Give vehicles used in carpools access to convenient parking spots. This also generates visibility for your rideshare programs, showing other university employees the popularity of carpooling.
  • Parking cash-out option. Offer employees financial benefits in exchange for giving up their parking privileges and watch participation rates soar.
  • Commuter rewards and challenges. Engage community members while promoting carpooling as an alternative to solo driving through commuter rewards initiatives and campus-wide commuter challenges.

Engage more employees through strategic communication

Administrators will also enjoy better success in their efforts in encouraging employees to carpool when they strategically promote the availability of ridematching resources. Here are some easy, effective ways to do that:

  • Build awareness through signage and email campaigns.
  • Mention the availability of commuter support programs, like rideshare matching, during new employee orientation sessions.
  • Draw attention to your program through periodic challenge and special events like rideshare month.
  • Promote rewards and incentive programs that encourage ongoing participation.

One particularly effective strategy used by a growing number of universities is to create commuter rewards programs that allow employees to rack up points every time they log a carpool trip to or from work. These points can then be redeemed for a wide variety of gift cards or other merchandise via a mobile app or commuter portal, which gets keeps people engaged for the long term.

Looking for more tips on how to deal with the parking crunch at your school?
Be sure to check out our free e-book on reducing campus parking demand.

If you need further advice on how to get university employees to carpool more often, or if you want a free, objective evaluation of your existing commuter programs, the RideAmigos team is here to help. Get started today!

Learning From The TDM Pros: An Interview With Peter Williamson

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Here at RideAmigos we love celebrating the success of our partners and helping others learn from their wisdom!

Peter Williamson is the Employer Outreach Coordinator for the San Luis Obispo Council of Government’s (SLOCOG) commuter program, the Back ‘N’ Forth Club, which supports employers in shifting commuter behavior. Peter is also one of the all-star members of the RideAmigos Academy, where he’s a frequent webinar conversation partner and a leader in our Coffee Talk X initiative.

Peter was recently recognized as one of the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) 2017 “Top 40 Under 40.” We sat down with him to learn more about his work helping employers support smart commute choices in their workplaces:

Peter Williamson - SLOCOGRideAmigos: Congrats on your recent award, and on a successful Rideshare Week 2017! I know you’re still crunching numbers and analyzing outcomes, but are there any things you learned from this year’s challenge? Any lessons for next year?

Peter Williamson: The goal of Rideshare Week is to develop an awareness of how we commute and the impact that our commute choices have on our wallets, health, and community. We asked community members to pledge to make at least one smart commute choice during Rideshare Week (October 2-6th) to reduce the number of single occupant vehicles on our region’s roadways. In SLO County, 683 commuters pledged to commute by carpool, vanpool, bike, foot, or bus, and then logged their trips at iRideshare.org.

Our Back ‘N’ Forth Club challenge put employers into two categories: 20+ employees or 60+ employees. The usual suspects (Cal Poly and SRAM) made the biggest impact and won this year’s Rideshare Week Challenge. Our winners receive a paid Best Workplaces for Commuters designation. This award puts our employers on the national map, and provides them with a valuable recruitment tool.

In addition to an online pledge, we asked willing employers to host a roll-up banner that employees could sign. One unexpected outcome was that some employees went outside of the box and expressed mode pride (i.e.: signed Peter – [draw a picture of a bike] 3 x a week!). I would like to do our part to encourage this next year (perhaps by having Lead Super Commuter/ETCs set the precedent).

For the challenge, I want to make it more competitive for Cal Poly, MINDBODY, and all other employers. I hope to accomplish this by mirroring what I did with the county my first year at SLOCOG. This would mean breaking Cal Poly and MINDBODY into sub networks by department. These departments could compete against other employers and departments based on size, making it more competitive for everyone. This effort simultaneously improves program communication at these larger employer sites.

Rideshare Week 2017 Trip Log Stats:

  • 2,749 single-occupant vehicle trips eliminated
  • 39,022 less vehicle miles traveled
  • 9.8 tons of CO2 prevented
  • $12,339 in commute costs saved
  • 156,415 calories burned

RA: As an Employer Outreach Coordinator you spend a lot of time and energy working with organizations to help them promote and support alternatives to solo driving. How do you help employers see the value in promoting alternative commuting options?

PW: The two biggest factors when approaching a new employer are: what is the time/money commitment, and who else is doing it? I take employers through the following outline:

  • What is the expected return on investment for starting a program?
    • Free extension of human resources and benefits
    • Reduced parking demand
    • National and regional recognition
    • Recruit talent from big cities
    • Retain employees that live further away
    • Payroll tax savings
    • Measurable environmental impacts
    • Reduced employee stress and health costs
    • And support for the local community
  • I highlight a few of the many tools, incentives, and services we offer participating employers.
  • I explain different participation designations and similar employers participating in each designation.
  • I ask the employer to nominate a program liaison (Lead Super Commuter / ETC).

RA: Transportation demand management (TDM) programming is obviously a year-round endeavor, but do you have any particularly favorite seasons or annual programs? What makes them your favorite?

PW: Of all SLOCOG/RIDESHARE’s campaigns, nothing compares with the community participation and awareness associated with Bike Month. It’s very well established, likely because our staff used to spend half of the year focused on this campaign. For me it’s valuable because Bike Month is the perfect opportunity to grow employer support of the Back ‘N’ Forth Club. Each year, I’m pushing employers to take their commitment a step further. Spring means employers are calling me, rather than the other way around.

RA: From transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft to autonomous vehicles, technology is rapidly expanding the options people have for transportation. How do you see emerging technologies impacting your TDM programs in the future?

PW: Uber and Lyft have already had an impact locally, whether good (less drinking and driving) or bad (more cars in higher-traffic areas). Our guaranteed ride home policy is very flexible, so we’ve noticed a trend in people selecting Uber/Lyft over the original options of a taxi, rental car, or shuttle. I hope technology continues to make data collection and program enforcement easy. I also hope technology reduces traffic congestion, and does not increase it, the fear being that people send their autonomous cars home to park themselves resulting in twice as many trips!

RA: Any parting advice or morsels of wisdom for someone who is new to this movement of shifting commuter behavior for the common good?

PW: Every day is filled with highs and lows that deliver the inspiration I need to keep moving towards a multi-modal world. What started as training for a 200-mile bike ride has grown into a career and lifestyle full of passion. It takes time to change commute behavior, but with a lot of persistence, passion, and patience, TDM professionals do make a difference. What seems like a dead end now will turn into an opportunity next year!

RA: Thanks for your time, and congratulations again on your recent recognition and all your programs’ success!

PW: Thank you!

We’re proud to count Peter and the whole team at SLOCOG as partners in the RideAmigos family, working together to transform transportation. To learn more about how you can shift commuter behavior more effectively and efficiently, contact us today!

 

Why Corporate Carpool Programs Matter

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Corporate carpool programs help businesses build a positive culture and more productive workforce

The benefits of corporate carpool programs extend well beyond helping to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. Research has shown that they can have very positive effects on employee productivity and job satisfaction. Commuters who carpool to work tend to report lower levels of stress, and arrive at work more energized and ready to take on the challenges of the day. That can have a big impact on a business’s bottom line.

There’s another important angle to consider: company culture. More and more, prospective employees are choosing to work for companies that reflect their personal values. This is especially true of the millennial generation, who will soon make up the majority of the workforce.

These young, talented, tech-savvy individuals are poised to play a major role in the evolution of 21st century enterprise, and offering fringe benefits like corporate carpool programs help attract them. Such programs send a key signal about company values, which are increasingly important in talent attraction and retention.

Employees benefit in a big way from corporate carpool programs

Companies that offer commuter benefits like corporate carpool programs discover that benefits run both ways. Employees win too. Here’s how:

  • Carpooling is a proven stress reducer, as it allows passengers to take their attention off the road and focus on productive activities or enjoyable diversions
  • Corporate carpools are a great forum for networking and socializing
  • Employees that participate in corporate carpool programs enjoy financial savings by reducing fuel expenses and vehicle wear and tear

Winning strategies include rideshare matching and offering preferred parking to vehicles used in carpools. Rideshare matching involves connecting people who live within relatively close proximity to one another, and have expressed interest in participating in a rideshare programs. Carpoolers can create custom schedules, and share costs and driving duties.

Preferred parking programs offer choice spots to vehicles used in carpools. For businesses that have paid employee parking, a related strategy can include rebates or price reductions for carpoolers.

Starting an employee carpool program is easy with the right tools. Fortune 500 companies are using RideAmigos cloud-based commuter management platform to manage corporate programs and incentivize employees to use third party mobility providers like Waze Carpool or Scoop.

Learn more by subscribing to free Commuter Tips, or contact us to discuss your plans.

Partner Highlight – WayToGo

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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.

Partner Highlight – SLOCOG

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Here at RideAmigos we’re always excited to see how our organizations are making the most of our TDM platform. This month we’re featuring our partners at the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments – SLOCOG for short. One of SLOCOG’s major programs is the SLO Regional Rideshare.

Rideshare.org & iRideshare.org

The SLO Regional Rideshare breaks down a major barrier to smarter commuting by being very easy to find online. Rideshare.org is their primary homepage, full of information about their various TDM programs. Their partner site, iRideshare.org, is home to their local implementation of our RideAmigos ridesharing, route finding, and commute management software.

SLOCOG is a great example of providing relevant, behavior-changing programming through government-supported rideshare solutions.

Recently we had a chance to catch up with Peter Williamson, Employee Outreach Coordinator for SLOCOG’s rideshare programs, to learn about some of their successes. Here’s what we learned:

Back ‘N’ Forth Club

History

The Back ‘N’ Forth Club is SLOCOG’s program for employers to encourage and incentivize their employees to skip the solo drive and use smarter forms of transportation. Started in 2007-8, the Back ‘N’ Forth Club underwent a major expansion about 2 years ago when Peter began focusing on rideshare initiatives full-time. Over the years the Club has grown to support more employers and developed additional resources, tools, and structures of success.

One of the major evolutions of the Back ‘N’ Forth Club has been customizing their incentive plans to maximize benefits for employers. Since each employee base is unique, different employers often find different incentives work better than others. In addition to their in-house incentives, the Back ‘N’ Forth Club also works with employers to offer options like extra vacation days. Such perks may prove even more enticing than financial incentives to some employees. This collaborative approach has helped the Club stay clearly focused on finding out what employers want and need while supporting their goals and values.

Highlights

The most successful programs of the Back ‘N’ Forth Club center around creating competition and positive peer pressure using transportation challenges and incentives. Their campaigns like Bike Month and Rideshare Week push commuters to try new ways of getting to work, even if just for a day or two. The hope is always that by seeing how easy and fun smarter commute methods can be then people will be more likely to use them in the future. SLOCOG has found particular success with focusing on one-time events, like bike day or rideshare day. This is because committing to one day seems much less intimidating than a week or month.

SLOCOG’s experience proves the most effective way for getting employees to log trips is paid incentives from employers. The Back ‘N’ Forth Club provides their services to employers so they can offer incentives without adding internal overhead. As mentioned earlier, they’ve had great success expanding their incentives to include additional perks unique to particular employers. Currently they have approximately 45 employers involved and around a thousand active users on their iRideshare platform.

Future

SLOCOG’s next big TDM program will be Rideshare Week 2016. Coming up in October, Rideshare Week will challenge employees to pledge to ride share for a specific number of days that week. Education and personal presence is a big part of this program’s success. Peter will be on site with various employers throughout the week. His focus will be having one-on-one conversations with employees about ridesharing. It’s a great opportunity to encourage commuters to use iRideshare to their fullest advantage.

A particularly exciting collaboration that is in the works is with BoltAbout electric bicycle rentals. Electric bicycles are a great way to get more people interested in biking, but their initial cost is intimidating. By offering e-bikes for rent, BoltAbout aims to change that. Through partnering with BoltAbout, SLOCOG hopes to offer e-bikes as another mode option for smart commuters.

The final big project that has Peter excited is the brand new Downtown SLO program. Since existing SLOCOG employer programs are aimed primarily at companies of a particular size or larger, Downtown SLO serves as a targeted program for downtown San Luis Obispo. This creates a new option for employees and owners of small businesses to participate in the Back N Forth club more easily. Reaching out to small, downtown businesses has the potential to create an even greater impact in an area where larger employers have already found success.

 

We at RideAmigos applaud Peter and the whole SLOCOG crew for all of the success they’re seeing in their TDM initiatives!

 

If you’re interested in finding out how RideAmigos can help increase participation and impact for your organization’s transportation demand management programs, contact us today.

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Ridematching Software

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Advanced ridematching software eliminates the problems and inconveniences of carpooling programs

Soaring fuel costs and increased awareness of the environmental toll of solo driving have combined to create a dramatic resurgence of interest in carpooling. It also helps commuters reduce wear and tear on their vehicles, forge new social and professional connections, and enjoy the proven stress-busting benefits of sharing rides with others.

Even though people are carpooling more than they have in decades, there’s still a gap to bridge: research shows that while many commuters support the idea of carpooling in theory, they aren’t adopting it to the same degree in practice. This is because traditional approaches to ridesharing also have their drawbacks:

Carpools and matches are often tracked in onerous and inefficient spreadsheets, making ridesharing programs a headache for administrators.

If a driver unexpectedly can’t make it or has to work late, passengers can end up stranded.

Carpool participants have to be connected via an administrator then reach out manually and set driving schedules.

Flexible work schedules preferred by modern workers are practically incompatible with traditional ridematching solutions that require extensive administrator intervention.

There must be a better way…

And there is: RideAmigos ridematching software.

RideAmigos ridematching software puts more control in the hands of commuters and delivers powerful analytics and reporting tools to administrators

On the commuter side, RideAmigos makes it a breeze to locate rideshare matches. Drivers and passengers alike can conduct simple but powerful searches, locate matches, and communicate instantly. Need a ride at the last minute? Dealing with an unexpected scheduling change? No problem. RideAmigos will help you locate an alternate carpool in minutes. Users can search all locally available options to find the best available match. RideAmigos helps make carpooling every bit as easy and convenient as solo driving, which in turn encourages more people to give it a try.

Administrators also enjoy greater control and vastly improved ease of management, as well as powerful analytics and reporting tools. Accurate statistical and data-driven insights are the keys to creating robust ridesharing programs with high participation rates.

The RideAmigos platform has already been adopted by hundreds of businesses, organizations, government agencies and educational institutions, and its powerful ridematching software tools are a big reason why.

We’d love to add you to our growing list of success stories. Get started today with a free analysis of your existing commuter programs, a comprehensive demo of our cutting-edge software platform, or free tips to improve the success of your organization’s commuting initiatives.

Employee Commuter Programs

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Engage employees and encourage smarter commuting with programs that promote alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles

As many businesses have found, getting employees to change their commuting habits requires more than just advertising alternatives. Even the best-intentioned directives are likely to fall flat if they aren’t backed up with action. So how can you find success? You can create lasting change by incorporating robust employee commuter programs into your workplace experience.

Enterprise-level commuter programs use proven transportation demand management tools to engage employees. Such programs dramatically increase the likelihood that employees will skip the solo drive and make use of alternative transportation. Drawing on a range of strategies that incentivize the use of smarter commuting options, they help guide employees away from single-occupancy vehicles. Commuter programs help create a company culture that places a high value on smarter, more environmentally responsible ways of getting to and from work.

Here are just a few examples of programs with proven popularity and effectiveness:

  • Ridesharing communities. Leverage the power of technology to connect commuters in the same geographic area with rideshares and carpools.
  • Incentive programs and gamification. Make smarter commuting fun! Use points programs and games that track employee use of transportation alternatives and reward ongoing participation.
  • Team challenges. Create friendly competitions between employees by organizing team-based rewards during bike-to-work or carpool challenges.
  • Subsidies and tax benefits. Cost concerns are one of the biggest barriers for commuters who are on the fence about using alternate methods of traveling to and from work. Therefore, one way to tip the scales is to subsidize public transportation passes. Another way is giving employees the option to use pre-tax income for transit or vanpools. These strategies can make other modes of travel cheaper than driving a single-occupancy vehicle.

Employee commuter programs pay big dividends for businesses and communities alike.

When people get on the alternative transportation bandwagon, everybody wins. Studies have shown that smarter commuting leads to increased employee satisfaction and productivity by reducing stress. Communities benefit through reduced pollution and eased traffic congestion. Businesses enjoy boosted employee retention rates and decreased facilities costs. All while making the company more attractive to prospective partners, investors, and employees through its commitment to forward-looking values.

The RideAmigos transportation demand management platform offers a comprehensive range of support tools for employee commuter programs. Commuters can leverage our software’s powerful trip planning and community features to make alternative transportation easy to access and use. Administrators can take advantage of a long list of advanced data tracking and management options that help increase participation rates and improve program effectiveness.

If employee commuter programs sound like they could benefit your company, contact the RideAmigos team or sign up to view our free video demonstration.