The Benefits of a Guaranteed Ride Home
What is a Guaranteed Ride Home program?
Imagine these scenarios: an employee who commutes by bike is about to head home when an unexpected thunderstorm hits. Or, a public transit commuter has to suddenly rush home to pick up a sick child from school. A Guaranteed Ride Home program comes through by providing quick, reliable transportation when it’s needed most.
A Guaranteed Ride Home program (sometimes called an Emergency Ride Home program) is a common feature of workplaces that encourage commuters to use means other than than single occupant vehicles. While the specifics of each program vary from company to company, they generally follow this type of structure:
- The program is open to employees that regularly use alternative means of transportation during their commutes
- “Alternative means of transportation” can include cycling, walking, public transit or any other approved mode
- Employees that use these modes for commuting at least two to three times per week qualify for the program
- Qualified employees can get a free ride home a specified number of times per year if an emergency situation arises
Guaranteed Ride Home programs encourage alternative transportation use
The key benefit of setting up an Emergency/Guaranteed Ride Home program is that it makes it commuters more likely to use alternative transportation. If people know they have a reliable ride home in an emergency, they’re more likely to skip the solo drive.
The RideAmigos platform offers extensive technical support to workplace managers who want to create Guaranteed Ride Home programs. Creating and managing such a program is quick and easy, thanks to our comprehensive toolkit.
Here’s an example of how simple it is to set up and manage a ride home program using RideAmigos:
- Create a specific private network that will be limited to employees who are eligible to participate in the program.
- Attach any necessary descriptions to each user in the system, or send a message to qualified users to let them know they’re in the program.
- Use the platform’s survey tool to collect information from participants, as needed.
- Add new members manually, or by sending “join us” links to qualified employees.
- Create a points program to manage the redemption of rides by employees who qualify.
- Add the ride home vouchers as inventory items; they will be managed and distributed automatically by the platform.
You can view more details and specifics by visiting the RideAmigos Academy help page on Guaranteed Ride Home programs.