This is the second article in a 10-part series on mobility as a service (MaaS) use cases, highlighting the many different ways in which it can help to solve travel and transport problems for individuals, organisations and governments. Read part 1 here.
Transport is a major part of an organisation’s cost base. From 2016 to early 2019, the average spend on travel per company in Europe increased 217.85% (Spendesk). Business travel is virtually non-existent at the moment, which leads to the question what corporations are going to do with their car fleets. While travel will most likely come back eventually, this seems like a great time to evaluate the cost of corporate fleets versus providing employees with flexible mobility budgets so they are in charge of how they travel.
MaaS supports organisations in this regard, with its ability to integrate preferred transport options for employees including corporate shuttle buses. This means that HR, finance and fleet management professionals can track travel spend in many different ways, for example, by geography, department, individual, CO2 emissions, miles travelled, business reason, as well as overall costs.
Integrating MaaS into an organisation’s expense solution means employee journeys can be directly submitted to accounts, along with electronic VAT receipts making the whole process as near real time as possible. Alternatively, any physical receipts can be scanned with a mobile device.
Organisations can also use MaaS to encourage shared transport and active travel with the potential to reduce car parking spaces. Swapping the latter for cycling bays and building shower rooms, supports employee wellbeing particularly where MaaS is linked to a fitness device or app so staff can track their process – and potentially have a beneficial impact on employee health insurance costs too.
In addition to cost and health factors, MaaS can support an organisation’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy and pledges to reduce environmental impact from travel by tracking CO2 emissions.
”GoOptus integrates Optus’s bus services with public transport, so it means our people can find the best way to get to work in a matter of seconds. It’s a great way to encourage them to travel to work sustainably, as the app shows the cost of driving vs other forms of transport.”
Penny Dillon, Sustainable Transport Manager, Optus
MaaS business travel in practice:
Optus needed a white label solution so their employees could travel to work efficiently and in an environmentally friendly manner. SkedGo created a custom app which integrated their shuttle service. The MaaS app shows Optus-operated bus stops and timetables, with the shuttle service considered in the journey search results alongside public transport.
This technology is helping organisations to meet their environmental and CSR commitments, reduce costs and increase efficiency. It’s also encouraging people to review their transport choices and their impact on the planet.
Who is MaaS business travel for
- Corporates, SMBs and not-for-profits
- HR, CSR and fleet managers
- Employees and volunteers
Questions to ask yourself
- How much are company vehicles costing your business each year?
- How much are you spending per month on mileage and travel costs?
- How do you keep track of who is using which transport, when, why and how often?
- In what ways could MaaS reduce your travel costs, making it easier for employees or volunteers to serve your organisation more efficiently?
Answering questions like these will help you figure out how you can reduce travel costs, support CSR efforts and make transport easier to navigate for employees and volunteers. If you’re a business owner, HR director or fleet/logistics manager, feel free to get in touch if you’d like to discuss how SkedGo could help your organisation.
Photo by Jimmy Chan from Pexels