The future of organisational carpooling
By Paul Oliver
A wrap-up of the AfMA hosted webinar: The highlights, insights and commentary by panellist and fleet management consultant, Paul Oliver
The tremendous level of participation in the recent AfMA Webinar “The future of organisational carpooling” gives testimony to the fact that organisations are increasingly recognising the benefits of carpooling, and in some cases, the limitations of their existing systems.
While it’s not just a recent phenomenon, it’s clear that COVID-19 has ensured ‘focus’ in some businesses on the cost of idle vehicles. The need to address the impacts of under-utilisation to deliver improved Fleet ROI is prevalent.
Combining this with the need for robust compliance systems while delivering a great driver experience seems to challenge many and result in organisations wanting to understand how they can implement an effective carpooling solution.
AfMA (Australasian Fleet Management Association) confirmed there were more than 300 webinar registrations, representing more than 150 different organisations. Mace Hartley (Executive Director, AfMA) directed the proceedings throughout and was well supported by an experienced panel of fleet professionals — Shane Mannix (RACV), Paul Sinclair (Intelematics) and myself (Fleet Advisory).
Survey results
It didn’t take long for Mace to engage the audience with the results of the first question to the participants, “Do you have a carpool?” showing an evenly split audience — Yes at 52% and No at 48%.
This seemed like a good representation — half the audience interested in implementing carpooling, and the other half wanted to understand how to do it better.
Then “For those who have a carpool. How do you manage it?” helped us better understand current carpooling practices with an array of responses. While about half of the respondents suggested they use a technology-based booking system, the other half described a range of what could best be called manual systems.
From my own experience, this was expected and included many old favourites I’ve seen being used — Outlook calendars and Excel spreadsheets being at the top of the list.
While whoever answered “the wrong way” had obviously taken the first step by at least recognising the problem!
Major challenges
Responses to the final poll “What are your carpooling challenges?” enabled an even better understanding of the major challenges being faced by some organisations. Key management, FBT (private/business use), vehicle availability and infringement notices were the most common themes.
The responses seemed to demonstrate that manual systems did not provide sufficient control and transparency over keys, vehicle bookings and usage management.
This became more apparent during the Q&A session with plenty of questions relating to the capability of carpooling systems to meet the various challenges faced by organisations operating a vehicle pool.
The digital age
It should come as no surprise to anyone that we are a society that is increasingly embracing the ‘digital age’. So, it is important to bear this in mind when identifying the core components of a carpool booking system.
Core components of a carpool booking system:
- Electronic Carpool Booking Calendar
- Digital Booking via a Mobile App
- Key Management System
A consolidated booking calendar is essential for the most basic booking requirements, including managing availability and the all-important compliance requirements associated with tracking driver use. It also provides the backdrop for comprehensive utilisation reporting, which can be used to ‘right size’ the fleet, manage the fleet mix, etc.
But how do we give drivers access? Our digital-savvy drivers are more inclined to ‘get on board’ when presented with a solution that meets their needs, and a user-friendly mobile app is most likely to be the solution they prefer.
Key management took out the top spot when it came to current challenges, but there are good integrated solutions that will meet most needs, including key safes that only release the key relating to the booking (and driver). Keyless entry is also evolving and will likely be ‘mainstream’ in a year or so.
Carpooling benefits
As RACV Fleet Manager, Shane Mannix was able to highlight many of the benefits he has experienced firsthand when discussing the RACV transition to a carpool, including:
- Greater vehicle utilisation
- Right-sizing of the fleet
- Reduced reliance on grey fleet
- Environment benefits
- Improved driver compliance
- Reduced vehicle maintenance costs
What is a grey fleet?
This term refers to any vehicle used occasionally or regularly by employees for work purposes, including their own vehicles and hire cars.
Under common law and the Australian Work Health and Safety Act 2011, organisations have a legal responsibility to provide a safe working environment and ensure that the public is not put at risk from the organisation’s transportation activities.
As Shane relayed, Grey fleets pose a safety and compliance risk for organisations. When vehicles are owned by staff, not the company, the company does not have visibility into vehicle health, including infringements, damages, servicing, cleanliness etc. Even so, under the Australian Work Health and Safety Act 2011, companies are responsible for providing a safe working environment.
Accordingly, organisations need to mitigate any risks associated with the use of employee vehicles, and carpooling can be effective in reducing or eliminating these occurrences.
Environment
The environment can be a real winner when it comes to carpooling. Making vehicles available for employees to share a ride to a meeting or alternative depot can reduce unnecessary trips. Vehicle standardisation within the pool can also be undertaken using lower emission vehicles.
Finally, can you think of a better way of introducing drivers to the benefits of a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) while the fleet gains an understanding of its operational capability? This is exactly how numerous organisations are leading the way to a zero-emission future.
Compliance
While infringement notices were considered a challenge by some attendees, a credible carpool booking system will provide the best solution for meeting compliance requirements.
Other vehicle sourcing options
As businesses look to finance vehicles more flexibly, we were reminded that there are other options for sourcing vehicles that can easily be incorporated in a carpool, such as car subscriptions. Subscriptions are being taken up by consumers, and businesses are likely to follow suit. Some recent insights from Go Auto about car subscriptions suggest:
- 4/10 Australian’s would consider subscribing to a vehicle rather than purchasing or leasing one
- 69% of Australian’s want a no-strings-attached vehicle subscription
- ‘All car running expenses’ are the most valued feature for car subscriptions
Fleet Management Organisations (FMOs) like Toyota Fleet Management and ORIX have mini lease vehicles available for their customers. Then there are vehicle subscription companies like Carbar and Carly that offer flexible car subscription services that are cost-effective, along with traditional car rental providers such as Avis, Hertz, and Budget.
Revenue generation
While many organisations consider their vehicle fleet to be a cost centre, could a profit centre be a future option? Using an effective carpool booking system could enable bookings to be made by employees for use out of hours or weekends. With some staff choosing to rent a company vehicle when they need one rather than own one. Why not utilise your own vehicles to generate revenue?
Alternatively, vehicles could be made available to nearby businesses or the public.
The future
As Mobility as a Service (MaaS) options evolve, a motor vehicle will likely be only one of the forms of transport available to employees soon. The sharing economy is very much here to stay. Before too long, employees will be choosing their mode of transportation based on service and experience rather than transport type.
If you missed the session, you could access the recording in full by clicking the link below.
