In my opinion...

Retrieved from Management Today. London: Apr 2001. pg. 20.

Transportation has an impact on every employer's life every day. New support legislation could soon start affecting staff and customers alike by bringing congestion charges to city centers and workplace parking levies even closer to home. At first sight, parking levies and congestion charges may not seem encouraging, but they will enable employers to influence the way that local transportation develops.

Local transport is not an issue that features highly on the radar screens of most managers. When it is thought about at all, it is dismissed as something over which the company has no influence.

Maybe it is time to change all that. Transport has an impact on every employer's life every day, as the post-Hatfield rail chaos demonstrated. It was not just bad for the traveller, it was bad for business. Large sections of the economy stumbled, and even London stores blamed the problems for the reduced size of their Christmas takings.

Commuting is one of the most stressful activities we undertake. As the roads get more and more congested, staff do not arrive in the best frame of mind to start work, and it becomes harder for customers to reach businesses, and when they get there, to park their cars. As for companies' own deliveries, their journey times become longer and more unreliable. Disruption to the track and congestion on our roads, worsened by roadworks, only exacerbates the situation on an already crowded network.

At the same time, new transport legislation could soon start affecting staff and customers alike by bringing congestion charges to your city centre and workplace parking levies even closer to home.

On the face of it, some of these developments may not sound encouraging, but they offer real benefits and opportunities for employers in enabling them to influence the way that local transport develops.

New technology alone will have a major impact on business efficiency. Some cars already have navigation devices that talk drivers through the route to a pre-programmed destination. And the availability of real-time information for bus and rail journeys across the country is just around the corner.

So what? Well, your staff will benefit. At home in the morning they will be able to programme their WAP phone to call them when the bus is three minutes away. For the homeward journey, your company's computer system will be able to access real-time local travel information, enabling staff to plan their travel better.

Screens offering real-time information will appear in foyers, store entrances and places of entertainment, enabling customers to linger longer and spend more money with you rather than waiting unproductively at a bus stop. Soon, staff coming in to work will be able to access real-time information on journey choices and comparative times on their WAP phones. Technology will be able to advise people on different commuting options, depending on traffic conditions.

The end result is that your employees will have some control over their journey and arrive at work less stressed. Leaving home and finding your bus turn up just as you get to the stop sounds futuristic, but it will soon be a reality - a just-in-time approach to transport.

Employers haven't been universally supportive of congestion charging for city centres. But why not? Surely any initiative that results in clearer roads and shorter car and bus journeys, offers more reliable journey times and delivers extra resources to invest in transport mustbe good.

All these things are about making life easier for everyone - improving journeys and the environment for those living and working in city centres.

Of course, as chief executive of a company running more buses in the UK than any other operator, I would say that, wouldn't I? But there are benefits for you, too.

Congestion charging will create more certainty for journey times as congestion blackspots are reduced. Cutting the number of marginal journeys will make bus journeys faster and more reliable. It is this reliability factor that is most important. Eliminating the old excuse of `sorry, the bus was late' will enable the total number of productive hours to be ratcheted up over the year.

Large companies needn't wait for these developments. Green transport plans are encouraging employers, transport operators and local authorities to focus on how they can deliver benefits for themselves, their staff and the local community.

Most large employers have huge staff car parks and some of that space could be used for expansion on site rather than relocating the business. By reducing the number of cars and encouraging your staff to consider alternative travel methods, you could also reduce your liability to workplace parking levy charges. If staff were to commute by car four days a week instead of five, car park space could be cut by 20%.

Large employers are starting to encourage car sharing and are even part-funding their own dedicated public transport links - either by funding the extension of an existing bus service to the factory or office or running a special service for staff.

There's nothing new in this. Managers who are longer in the tooth will remember when dedicated buses would tour housing estates each morning to take workers directly to the factory gate, arriving exactly on time for the start of the working day. For the return journey, buses would be waiting at the gate.

The transport sector is going through unprecedented change just now and there's never been a better time to influence it.

Author: Moir Lockhead
Affiliation: Institute of Management companion Moir Lockheed, CEO of First Group, believes the changing dynamics of transport offer employers new possibilities