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Reflecting on the year in fleet and business travel as it comes to an end, it feels like 2023 was the year when employee mobility shifted gear. Changes brought about by the pandemic are now permanent. Their impact on employee mobility strategies is becoming clearer.
Customers say their car parks are three times busier than at this point last year, though still not at 2019 levels - and it's unlikely they ever will be. More of us are 'back at the office', but hybrid working is here to stay.
These new working patterns mean customers have been asking us how to evolve their travel strategy to meet a greater diversity of transport needs.
What they are finding is that, by providing choice and flexibility, mobility is no longer simply about cars and journeys; it becomes a tool that empowers people to build careers and businesses. Employees can shape their business journeys to suit, making life, and work, easier.
An effective transport policy also helps organisations and employees to manage costs. For example, encouraging behaviour change around grey fleet by offering appealing and more sustainable alternatives can achieve significant cost savings.
At a basic level, adjustments to travel policy need to accommodate the fact that employees start their journeys from lots of different places, not just the office. A range of transport options need to be available close to people's homes to reduce dependence on grey fleet, helping reduce both emissions and mileage reimbursement costs.
A truly sophisticated transport policy would also be based on a detailed understanding of employee behaviour. How and why do they travel? What choices can we provide that will enable them to meet their individual needs?
Empowering employees might mean enabling them to combine trips to cover more ground in one journey, requiring access to more than one type of transport.
Others may wish to embrace active travel - walking or cycling - to improve their health and wellbeing, so they need bike storage and showers at work.
If reducing emissions is the priority, perhaps employees would like the choice of combining public transport with access to an EV rental car.
And for people travelling from the office, are there pool cars or car club options on-site, so they don't have to default to their private car for commuting?
Notably, on-site car clubs have grown in popularity over the course of 2023. In October the Department for Transport issued official advice and a toolkit to local authorities, highlighting the potential for car clubs to reduce emissions and congestion, increase vehicle occupancy rates and reduce pressure on parking. The NHS, which has the second-largest fleet in the country, has also identified car sharing as part of the sustainable travel hierarchy that will help deliver its net zero travel and transport strategy.
It will be interesting to see how this advice is adopted - especially as where public sector organisations go, the private sector often follows.
If 2023 taught us anything, it's that employee demands on transport are now so varied, meeting everyone's needs requires a genuine breadth of choice. And when employers get it right, it can be transformational.
Paul McCorkell is director of business rental UK & Ireland at Enterprise
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