Guaranteed Ride Home is a powerful tool that can effectively convince commuters to leave their cars at home–but what it is, exactly? And how can employers implement it at their organization? Let’s get into it.
For Jawnt’s State of Commuter Benefits Survey, we asked over 400 employers what benefits they would be most excited to offer to their employees. We heard them loud and clear when they said they were interested in Guaranteed Ride Home (also known as “Emergency Ride Home”) programs. Guaranteed Ride Home is a powerful tool that can effectively convince commuters to leave their cars at home–but what it is, exactly? And how can employers implement it at their organization? Let’s get into it.
Picture this: You take the bus to work. Something unexpected happens while you’re in the office–maybe a pipe bursts in your kitchen, or your kid needs to be picked from school up ASAP. If only you’d driven today! The bus across town will take too long!
Not to worry.
Commuters enrolled in Guaranteed Ride Home programs always have a backup when they need one, for free.
The exact details vary by area and organization, but the basics are usually the same:
Guaranteed Ride Home is perfect for any employer that wants to:
If you run a transportation program and are trying to encourage people to take transit, bike, or carpool, you’ve probably heard this one a thousand times: “But what if I need my car?”
This is a frequent question because it’s so reasonable. What if you need your car? Taxis exist, of course, but can be prohibitively expensive–especially if your employees aren’t salaried. If a commuter is willing to leave their car at home, some might say it’s the least their employer can do to help cover their cab home from work in an emergency.
One thing about emergencies is that, hopefully, they’re infrequent. A commuter may only need a few emergency rides a year, but will benefit from the peace of mind provided by their Guaranteed Ride Home program all year long. It stands to reason that an employee who isn’t worried about getting home without their car in an emergency may be more likely to take transit for their commute.
Contra Costa County, east of the San Francisco Bay, runs a county-wide Guaranteed Ride Home program. Their program is available to anyone working in Contra Costa County, regardless of where they live, or who their employer is, and allows commuters to receive up to six reimbursements per calendar year. The first two trips each year are reimbursed at 100% to $150 each, and the remaining four are reimbursed at 75% to $100 each, and gratuity is not included. The program will reimburse for transit trips, too, if that’s not normally how the commuter gets home. After the ride, commuters submit their receipts with a description of the emergency and, if approved, are reimbursed within 30 days.
Across the country in Boston, the A Better City Transportation Management Association runs a Guaranteed Ride Home program for its member companies. Like Contra Costa, ABC also reimburses up to six rides a year, and the program is run through the Uber app. Commuters submit a description of their emergency on a regional website, and automatically receive an Uber code. All six trips can cost up to $100 each, including gratuity. If their explanation is later rejected, commuters are billed through their card on file with Uber.
Over in Atlanta, the Atlanta Regional Commissions operates Georgia Commute Options (GCO), which includes a Guaranteed Ride Home Program. Employees of member companies working in one of 20 counties can also receive an Uber ride for free in an emergency. Through GCO, commuters can request a ride from GCO staff who book an Uber ride on their behalf. Note that rides requested before 9 AM or after 9 PM, or on weekends, must be scheduled in advance. GCO will order five rides per calendar year, and commuters must record eight “clean” (car-free) commutes in the GCO app between each free ride.
In all three of these cases, and many more across the country, employers only pay the cost of marketing the program.
Many cities also run a pre-paid taxi program. Essentially, employers order and distribute “scrips” in advance, and distribute them to enrolled employees. Employees hand these little pieces of paper to their taxi driver after their ride. The taxi company collects the scrips and bills the employer (or TMA, etc) directly. This way, the employee never has to worry about payment.
Don’t have a TMA or city TDM program, or want to build your program in-house? Uber and Lyft both offer features that allow employers to create their own Guaranteed Ride Home program – defining their allowable pickup locations, time/days, and subsidy rules – and invite employees by email.
If you’re interested in getting a Guaranteed Ride Home program started at your employer, start by checking to see if your local Transportation Management Association (TMA) or county/regional Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program will cover the costs. If so, be prepared to implement their rules as well (how many trips a year, how to submit receipts, etc).
The success of any Guaranteed Ride Home program depends primarily on two factors: how well the program is marketed, and how easy it is to use. For marketing, consider all the standard channels–hang printed fliers in the break room, plug the program in your employee wellness and commuter newsletters, and share posts in your internal employee channels, whether they’re Slack, intranet, or something else. Consider some more adventurous marketing approaches, too–like (safely anonymized) recurring statistics about how often the program is being used to normalize participation, or emails to employees on the waiting list for parking spots. Targeted outreach to managers can also help spread program awareness.
The hardest parts of the program for employees will be enrolling and getting reimbursed. If it’s too much of a hassle, word will spread and employees will be discouraged from participating. Enrollment should be as simple as registering interest and learning how to participate.
The reimbursement process can be more complex, but this will impact program adoption. Any program that requires a submitted receipt and 30+ days for reimbursement is going to be more difficult for cash-strapped employees.
Guaranteed Ride Home is too valuable a benefit to pass up, so when you’re onboarding with Jawnt, be sure to ask your account specialist about it. Jawnt can:
Interested in seeing how a Guaranteed Ride Home program can fit into your commuter benefits program? Looking to level up your transit offerings? Reach out–Jawnt can help.
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