Cracking the carpool conundrum
March 23, 2010 | Length: 00:02:22
Getting employees to rideshare has always been a difficult challenge for businesses. But Paul McGrath, CEO of Ridespring may have an answer. He's developed web-based software that organizes carpooling into a one-stop destination, so users can share their daily commute information across the organization more easily. The software also has incentives built-in, so the more employees carpool the more likely they are to be rewarded for ridesharing.
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RE: Cracking the carpool conundrum
RE: Cracking the carpool conundrum
Now instead of one person either missing or being late for work there are four.
Next is insurance rates.. as soon as the Insurance companies see a way to increase their coffers... they are just going to say " well you are in a car pool we'll just let you slide on the increase in premiums" yeah! Right!
Not to mention the liabilities some slick lawyer will come up with when a carpooler gets injured...because of a collision.
Flexible Carpooling Solves Jeff's problem
Now a new approach to carpooling called flexible carpooling provides that potential. See http://www.flexiblecarpooling.org.
RE: Cracking the carpool conundrum
RE: Cracking the carpool conundrum
My experience tells me that instead of coming up with problems, you just need to find another person interested in cutting their driving expenses in half or more, and you'll figure out the rest. For instance, I save my errand running to the days I drive (easy if you plan ahead). We meet at a rendezvous location near our homes, then commute 20 miles, then when we return, we're dropped off at our cars where we're free to do our errands before heading home.
One of the best features for me is that I get a nice nap on the way home when I'm not driving--what could be better?
More about SAP carpool success
Transcript
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Sumi Das: Getting employees to carpool has always been considered one of the holy grails for businesses. Ride sharing encourages employee comradery, and cuts down on carbon emissions. But having an organized plan is a challenge for many companies.
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Paul McGrath: To set up a database for carpool is internally, can be very difficult. And often if they do set one up, the participation is very low.
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Sumi Das: Paul McGrath is the CEO of RideSring, a technology company that's built software to organize ride sharing into a 1 stop destination.
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Paul McGrath: We've enabled people to share their commute information across the organization very easily.
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Sumi Das: One of RideSring's successes is at business software maker SAP. SAP started using RideSring in 2008, and now 30 percent of the employees in the Silicon Valley office have signed up. Larry Morgan oversees the program at the company.
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Larry Morgan: It saves them time, saves them fuel, saves them bridge tolls, they get to ride in a carpool lane so there's a quality of work-life balance that's also part of the program.
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Sumi Das: Here's how the software works. Say you want to find a ride. Select your work site and your home destination, and do a search. A list of drivers appears telling you when they plan to arrive, and leave from work. If it matches your schedule, sign up. If instead you decide to offer a ride, you can fill out a form entering data and describing when you are available to help out. The software also has incentives built in. So the more employees carpool, the more likely they are to be rewarded for ride sharing.
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Paul McGrath: They can win prizes every single month, and they can also see what they're saving - the gas savings and carbon savings.
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Sumi Das: The rewards are also available to employees who may decide to walk, bike, or use public transit to get to SAP.
>> We've transformed the daily commute into a fun competitive game between co-workers, and that really drives interest in participation.
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Sumi Das: RideSring, making it easier to carpool to work; all the while reducing your carbon footprint during the commute hours. For Smart Planet, I'm Sumi Das.
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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====