Bridging the public transport gap by providing transport for employees

Employers are often frustrated by local public transport service restrictions that can affect the ease and length of commutes for employees. But with many services designed for wider considerations than specific case-by-case requirements, we explore why employers need to bridge the public transport gap, and discover further benefits, by providing transport for employees.

Even when public transport is well designed, it often does not cater for specific journeys, such as accessing particular employment zones at certain times or from certain origins. This is one of the major reasons why organisations implement their own shuttle buses, carpool programs or other aspects of staff transport. 

Additional common reasons why employers need to bridge the public transport gap include:

Location 

Major employment centres may have good transport access, but often they don’t. This is especially the case in non-central locations where employment has grown organically, or new developments that are well served from a particular direction but not from others. Smaller employment centres and those such as in industrial parks which are quite spread out, often also have poor public transport access.

Payment and utilisation tracking 

Organisations may wish to subsidise their employee travel on public transport and other modes. When this occurs, there needs to be a solution which allows an individual budget to be applied across multiple modes, and for the organisation to individually track utilisation. This can be a barrier for uptake, particularly when the public transport network does not have an advanced ticketing system, but implementing a dedicated employee transport solution allows full control over payment and tracking.

Asset availability 

The majority of staff travel occurs in a peak time when available vehicles are at their highest level of utilisation. For independent solutions to be implemented, an organisation may need to find a way of having a dedicated service, which can be costly. However, plugging the gap can be more cost-effective for employers if flexible solutions can be found. Transport operators are usually open to solutions which make alternative use of assets, such as switching vehicle service types which have differing demand peaks, such as an off-peak focused minibus service.

Visibility 

Once organisational services are implemented, they need to be promoted and easily found. Wonderfully useful services may not be readily visible if they are not accessible through commonly used journey planners. Organisations need to find a way of ensuring that staff know about the available options as well as how to access them when they are doing their travel planning either in advance or ad hoc.

Scope 3 emission measurement & reporting  

By bridging the gap between employees and public transport services through a corporate transport solution, employers can accurately measure and report on employee commuting Scope 3 emissions. Following an analysis and implementation of various solutions, businesses often are required to, or desire to, report on their environmental impacts. Larger employers may need to conduct formal ESG reporting, while there is also a growth in self-initiated ESG reporting in businesses of varied sizes that want to meet their sustainability goals.

Accessing a broader pool of staff 

Especially for low-paying jobs, access to sites can make or break whether enough suitable employees are available. Lower paying jobs regularly co-locate with poor transit access, amplifying the problem. By tackling this problem head on with suitable transport interventions, employers are able to capture a much wider pool of candidates.

Incentivisation of staff 

This goal has grown in importance considerably since the pandemic-induced changes to employee travel patterns. Employers are often now having to find ways to entice staff back to campus. Removing or reducing long and inconvenient commutes is an oft-quoted desire for many businesses, and implementing a dedicated corporate transport solution is the most efficient way to reach this goal.

Safety 

In certain industries and jurisdictions, employers have a duty of care over their staff before and after their shift, including in some cases enforcing driving bans, and public transport services often cannot provide services around the clock in rural areas. Providing a range of suitable and attractive travel choices for staff in this and other contexts is seen as a major incentive when hiring and retaining key staff.

In Liftango’s experience, working closely with employers and service providers enables us to collectively understand and design solutions which not only provide transport for employees, but assist in meeting organisational goals.