Kaohsiung 2010 Papers: Employer Share/Transport

Rory McMullan, Project Administrator of this year's Kaohsiung conference, is one of the keynote speakers in the session which is reporting on ride/sharing as a tool for affordable and fair sustainable transport in and around our cities world-wide. In this presentation he undertakes to introduce a range of employer share/transport services for larger pubic sector and industrial employers in Taiwan.

Employer Share/Transport - a business tool for Taiwan

How much does 'free parking' cost your business

Transport is often one of the biggest costs for businesses, but the full costs are often hidden.

Parking provision for staff is one of the easier costs to measure, and in the UK the average direct cost to an employer of providing a free car-parking space is £400 per year, but for many employers this cost is considerably higher. (Department for Transport - Making Smarter Choices Work 2002)

This includes, maintenance, security, and lighting - and if land purchase / lease values are included this rises to about £1000 per-space per year.

How would my staff get to work if I don't provide enough parking?

Even for the most remote workplaces there are far better alternatives than for each member of staff driving alone to the workplace every day, and Employer Share/Transport plans identify which solutions will work for your business and help to implement them.

Providing a matching service for staff to share their car for the commute, called ride-sharing, is one of the most popular and effective solutions.

Encouraging cycling and walking is suitable for businesses where a large percentage of staff live within a few miles of the workplace, and offering effective tele-working options are ideal for businesses with large numbers of office based staff.

All of these transport solutions will save your business money, and they are also popular with staff, and a happier, healthier employee is a more productive employee.

International experience shows us that a comprehensive share/transport plan will help make your business more efficient, help project an environmentally and socially responsible image, and help businesses attract and retain the best staff.

Employer Share/Transport in Kaohsiung 2010

On September 16th the first World Share/Transport Forum will take place in Kaohsiung City, and one of the core topics will be Rideshare - Employer Share/Transport plans.

Can Employer Share/Transport plans be successful in Taiwan? What are the key elements that can be applied to the Taiwanese context? What is the cost of parking in Taiwanese cities? Do businesses in Taiwan have similar transport issues as in the UK, USA and Europe?

These are just some of the questions we will discuss, and we are looking for Taiwanese employers to join us to debate them.

There are opportunities for two to three people to appear on the expert panel to represent Taiwanese business at this International Event, and we have up to 50 places to offer to employers to attend free of charge. (Full ticket price NT$5000).

If you are interested in participating in the panel or just attending the event, please contact - Rory McMullan at roryer@gmail.com and describe briefly the organisation you represent.

For more event information please see: http://www.kaohsiung.sharetransport.org.

For your business a workplace Share/Transport plan can:

save money on the cost of providing and maintaining parking spaces

solve problems caused by the ever-growing demand for parking

cut mileage claims and other business travel costs

reduce staff downtime spent travelling on business

reduce the costs of running a fleet

solve delivery and customer access problems caused by traffic congestion on and around your site

improve your image with both customers and neighbours

improve staff health and reduce absenteeism

assist with recruitment and retention, for example by making staff journeys to work easier and cheaper and enhancing the image of your business as a responsible employer help meet shareholder demand for corporate social responsibility improvements, including meeting environmental targets.

For your staff a share/transport plan can:

provide benefits to a wider range of people by shifting from travel perks based on seniority to incentives for sustainable travel available to all staff, including those without access to a car

ensure parking for those with most need of a vehicle such as those working out of hours, commuting from distance, or staff who are mobility impaired.

help provide less stressful options for travel to work

give opportunities to build healthy exercise into daily life

reduce journey times to work

reduce the cost of travel to work, or avoid the need to buy a car

provide a better work-life balance through flexible working and less need to travel on business.

# # #

About the author:

Rory McMullan, Sustainable Transport activist, Taiwan/UK: The requirements in UK planning legislation to restrict parking allocation and encourage staff to travel sustainably to work, mean there are thousands of ES/T plans in place. Rory provides training and advice to professionals working in the workplace travel plan and travel behavior change fields. He currently serves on the steering committee for several voluntary organizations including; Local Government Technical Advisors Group Transport Committee, Carfree UK, and is European Mobility Week Coordinator for the UK. Previously he worked in marketing roles in the bicycle business, and was based in Taiwan, global home of the bicycle industry, for seven years, where he also organized car free events. Rory sees sharing as a common element of many sustainable travel campaigns, be it information, space, or vehicles. Rory is assisting Kaohsiung conference as Project Administrator, as well as leading the working group on Travel behavior/ Employer Shared Transport (EST) and the key contact for the Jason Chang International Fellows program.

Print this article