Vancity partners with go2gether to pilot real-time carpooling ride-share app
May 23, 2014
We’re proud to be partnering with Simon Fraser University’s social enterprise go2gether, to pilot its real-time ride-share app.
During the eight-month pilot of the go2gether app, our employees will be able to interact with each other and arrange carpools to work, meetings, training sessions and other work related events.
As part of our commitment to supporting impact businesses, Vancity’s green business team has been providing coaching and support to go2gether to help grow their business and develop strong relationships in Vancouver’s business community. And we’re the primary investor in RADIUS Social Innovation Lab, which is helping incubate go2gether, Shift Urban Cargo and other local impact ventures.
This partnership is a great example of our commitment to promoting and encouraging greener commuting choices for our employees, including:
- discounted parking rate for carpool vehicles
- 20-per-cent reimbursement on monthly transit passes
- electric vehicle charging stations at head office
- options to telework from home or a nearby branch where requirements permit
- bike lockers and showers for employees at head office and at suitable branches
We also recently conducted a poll around sustainable commuting to determine the barriers around making greener commuting choices, and hope the findings encourage other employers to offer incentives. A key finding from the poll was that 76 per cent of Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island residents who drive to work would be more likely to carpool, use transit or cycle if their employer offered incentives.
“As a values-based business, we have made environmental stewardship a top priority. Businesses must lead by example. If we’re not thinking about how our employees are getting to work, then we’re not measuring our true environmental footprint," says Ellen Pekeles, senior vice-president of operations at Vancity.
The poll garnered some great media coverage on Global and 24 Hours.
Read go2gether’s news release.