Top Incentives to Increase Ridesharing (Infographic)
Wondering how to increase ridesharing among employees?
Create incentive programs that turn negatives into positives:
One of the best ways to increase ridesharing is by creating incentives that neutralize the commonly cited reasons why people avoid carpooling in the first place.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey, only 9.4% of commuters use carpools to get to work. While one can hope that figure has come up a bit in the years since comprehensive federal data was last published, there’s little doubt that ridesharing still has vast untapped potential.
A poll performed by ABC News showed that while 20% of commuters were interested in sharing rides, 51% of commuters say they think carpooling would be “inconvenient,” 18% of respondents said they don’t take part in rideshare programs because they “don’t know anyone to carpool with,” and 11% cited issues related to scheduling and needing to rely on others.
Incentive programs that turn these negatives into positives have a great chance of success. Here are some tips for creating rideshare programs built on the very principles that supposedly prevent people from taking part in them:
Provide in-company or neighborhood-based rideshare matching. These are both great ways to address privacy-related concerns. Provide commuters with tools to make quick, safe connections with coworkers or neighbors so they don’t have to share rides with complete strangers.
Create flexible scheduling options. People may not need a ride when they have it, and they may not have a ride when they need it. The solution? Allow carpooling commuters to work on flex-time schedules, or adopt rideshare matching software that lets users set their availability for specific days and times according to their needs.
Offer a guaranteed ride home. Many solo drivers also want the freedom and flexibility to be able to respond to emergencies and unexpected situations, and don’t want to be without a way to get home if something happens. Guaranteed ride home programs reimburse carpoolers if they need to use a taxi or on-demand ride-hailing service on short notice.
The RideAmigos commuter management platform is filled with powerful features that are ideal for implementing these and many other smart incentive programs for increasing ridesharing.