Provide Company-Run Transit for Employees
Human resources case study: High-tech companies
Several high-tech companies have jumped on the employee-shuttle bandwagon—or, more appropriately, bus—to provide commuters with a calmer, greener and faster means of getting to and from work.
Companies decline to quote costs, but generally say the investment is a small price to pay for:
- The recruiting advantages and retention rates
- The reductions in regional traffic congestion and air pollution
- The improvements in the quality of life and overall happiness of their employees
“Of the more than 3.3 million people in the [San Francisco] Bay Area who commute to work each day, more than 70% of them drive to work alone,” says Christine Maley-Grubl, executive director of the Peninsula Traffic Congestion Relief Alliance. “Bay Area commuters spend more than 155,000 extra hours in traffic—that’s 17 years and more than $1.8 million of wasted productivity per day.”
Google shuttles about 1,200 workers in the San Francisco Bay Area (nearly a quarter of its local workforce) to its Mountain View, California, offices. All rides are free.
Its 32 buses are outfitted with:
- Wireless Internet access
- Allow dogs and bikes
- Take advantage of highway carpool lanes to achieve speedy commute times
All told, the buses log 4,400 miles a day with stops in more than a dozen cities. Google’s transportation planners regularly redraw routes to serve new hires.
Similarly, Yahoo! offers its own wifi-equipped employee buses, using biodiesel-powered vehicles. Yahoo!’s fleet, including the popular “Green Guzzler” which serves employees living in San Francisco, transports some 350 employees between several cities and the company’s main office in Sunnyvale.
Yahoo! also provides direct shuttles from area train stations, allowing employees to ride systems like Caltrain, BART and Amtrak to get to work.
And not to be left out of the bus business, Microsoft launched in September its own service for its employees in the Seattle metro area. Known as The Connector, this 14-bus service ferries up to 1,000 employees from around the greater Seattle area to and from its headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
Many of the coaches sport:
- Bike storage
- Wireless Internet and power outlets at each seat
Microsoft also operates hybrid crosscampus shuttles.
In addition to providing a convenient way for employees to commute to work, Microsoft estimates The Connector will eliminate approximately 800 vehicle trips and 32,200 miles of travel each day— resulting in an estimated 3,800-ton reduction of CO2 emitted annually.
Posted: 25-Jun-2007; Updated: 19-Nov-2008
