Globally, corporates are experiencing the benefit of their staff getting to work affordably and efficiently using a corporate shuttle service. Shuttling to and from work provides staff the opportunity to work on the commute either to or from the office, rather than spending more than two hours a day behind the wheel.

Has your organisation considered the positive impacts shuttling could have on productivity, as well as the time it saves, which can then be spent on other activities? This is what progressive organisations around the globe are doing to take advantage of the benefits of shuttling:

Much like Cape Town, Mumbai is renowned for its long-standing transport issues – on average Mumbaikars spend at least two hours commuting to and from work. Realising that inadequate transport is negatively impacting productivity, many companies across various sectors, have invested in measures to ensure staff reach the office safely and on time, consequently removing the everyday ordeal of travelling in overcrowded trains and buses.

Tata Motors, Bayer, Larsen & Toubro, as well as Essar have invested in private transport companies to collect staff from designated, high-traffic pick-up points across the city, while Standard Chartered Bank and K Raheja Corp, provide shuttle services where staff are dropped at their front doors after work. In addition to Tata’s shuttle service, the brand has also partnered with ride-sharing app Ola, through which employees can book a ride to a common destination. Not only have these private sector interventions moved passengers away from overcrowded trains and buses easing the burden on public transport, it has helped employees save on travel costs and alleviate the stress of dealing with the city’s crumbling transit system.

Moving to Singapore, a collaboration between Government Technology Agency of Singapore and Land Transport Authority has developed an initiative to encourage a culture of crowd-sourcing among citizens, empowering them to play a part in optimising transport route planning. Beeline, an open cloud-based smart mobility platform, which provides data-driven shuttle bus services, allows commuters access to more direct, private express bus routes that cater to their needs. The service has pivoted towards the corporate collaboration model and this partnership has been key to Beeline’s business.

In Kenya, traffic congestion is costing companies heavily, prompting a surge in corporate investment in new ways of doing business. The World Bank reported that heavy congestion, high rates of walking, informal collective transportation, and the spatial distribution of jobs and residents lead to low employment accessibility in Nairobi and the misallocation of labour. This overload has seen companies move to investing millions of shillings in programmes designed to cut unnecessary travel on the road through strategies such as carpooling for employees and vehicle sharing. Taking a few cars off the road may not have an immediate impact on congestion, but as more companies and individuals take up these initiatives, overall traffic congestion will decrease, and real savings will be made.

In Mountain View, California, people are encouraged to live the life of a car-free existence. MVgo is a commuter shuttle service that is collectively run by the Mountain View Transit Management Association; a non-profit board made up of a group of companies including Intuit, Google, LinkedIn, Samsung, Microsoft and Symantec among others. The shuttle was a condition of the City Council’s approval of a new Samsung campus. MVgo is the result of an extraordinary collaboration of companies, employers and private landowners who came together to do something unique, give free rides to employees and residents of Mountain View, so people can get to work.

So, in a city like Cape Town that experiences high levels of congestion as in these examples, wouldn’t it make sense for us to adopt similar strategies? Our Transport Project Office is looking into exactly that – to find a cost-effective, collaborative solution for our corporate employees that is safe, clean and reliable, provides an environment where employees can work while on the move and can be flexible depending on people’s schedules. Please get in touch if you or your company would be interested in participating.