In case you missed Jawnt’s State of Commuter Benefits Survey, we asked 400 employers which benefits were the most meaningful to their employees. We heard loud and clear that support with Trip Planning is a key area of interest to help commuters explore options beyond driving alone.

What is Trip Planning?

When employers offer “trip planning” as a commuter benefit, they’re typically referring to an online platform where employees can log in, plug in their start location, and see all the travel options available to them. This could be either a mobile app or a URL that can be accessed on both desktop and mobile.

‍Isn’t that just Google Maps?

Yes, Google Maps, Transit App, Apple Maps, and others do offer trip planning (more on that later). But if your organization offers private shuttles, available only to your employees, then those won’t appear on these external trip planners. 

Trip planning should give employees not just information about which vehicles to board and where, but also how to pay for their trip. Google can show what your trip might cost, but if your organization offers subsidized passes, Google won’t know to factor that in either.

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Who uses Trip Planning?

Trip planning is perfect for any employer that wants to:

• Encourage employees to try driving less
• Alleviate a long waitlist for parking spaces
• Offer inclusive benefits that attract and retain talent

Trip planning is especially important for employers that offer:

• Private shuttles that aren’t available on common trip planners
• Subsidies for transit or parking

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What are the advantages to offering Trip Planning at your organization?

Shuttles aren’t cheap. Subsidizing transit and parking takes time, too. If an organization is going to invest all that effort into providing these valuable options to employees, doesn’t it make sense to spend a little more effort to make sure employees know how to use these benefits?

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How to implement a Trip Planning benefit?

If your shuttle operator doesn’t offer a satisfactory trip planner, or these services are otherwise unavailable, consider working with a stand-alone trip planner. Transit App partners with large organizations, such as universities, to incorporate private services into routing. Transit App only displays those shuttle routes to riders who enable that mode. They are off by default and can be enabled in the app settings or via a link distributed to your community so they’re not promoted to the wider public.

If you don’t have shuttles, a simpler solution might do the trick. Many transit agencies and TMAs make their staff available to personally talk local riders through their commuting options. At Marin Transit, the transit agency will send a representative with a one-hour presentation to any group event to overview the transit system, discuss individual route plans, and give new riders a clear picture of the options available to them. In Western Massachusetts, the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority’s Travel Training, includes “transit tours”, where any group of residents can request that a representative meet them and ride along on their actual transit route. An employer-run version of this program could feature a group transit trip out for lunch, or a “transit pool” into the office from an arranged meeting point.

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Offering Trip Planning with Jawnt

Our specially trained Travel Concierge team can talk your employees through the ends and outs of their specific journeys and needs via phone, chat, or email. Our Travel Concierge team also attends dozens of in-person events a year to promote transit and discuss commute options with individual employees. 

Jawnt’s Travel Concierge team fields questions from employees about their commutes every day. These questions include: 

• What do I do now that my train line has been suspended? Is there a bike share system I can use? Can I get reimbursed for a taxi? Is Guaranteed Ride Home available at my organization?
• What if I have to work late? How long does the bus run? What should they do if I miss the last bus? How will I know if I’ve missed the last bus?
• I broke my leg and need a knee walker for a month, so can I still ride my usual train? Does my station have an elevator? Does the bus accept my device? How should I prepare to board?
• What if I need to run an errand on my way home? Do I need to change buses? How often does the other bus pick up? How long should I expect to wait?

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Get in Touch

If you think trip planning could help drive enrollment and utilization of your transit commuter benefits, contact us at hello@jawntpass.com to learn more.