While a proper parking management system is vital, there are also further ways to optimize your parking.
Parkalot can manage your parking and ensure spaces are used as effectively as possible, but what about reducing the excessive need as well? Carpooling is one such way to this – which is why we developed Poola.
We’d like to take a moment to introduce the benefits of carpooling, how it can further enhance your parking management and how Poola can help!
What is corporate carpooling?
Carpooling has been around since the 1940s. By sharing rides, people reduce their fuel consumption and save money. It’s estimated that almost 1 in 10 Americans carpool, but this varies based on numerous factors, such as location and other transport options.
Corporate carpooling introduces this to the workplace, helping people who live near each other, or otherwise share a common route, to get to and from work together.
Poola – our answer for better carpooling!
Poola is our new answer for encouraging carpooling in workplaces. By providing a centralised app and platform, we’ve created Poola to help make it as easy as possible for employees to join a carpool program.
Here’s a little of what Poola can do! 
- Automated route-matching. Poola will take the addresses of your employees and plan the most optimized commutes, based on locations and pickup points. Your staff don’t need to do any of the planning or organization – everything is taken care of.
- Reports & analytics. Similar to Parkalot, we’ll provide regular analytics to let you know how everything is going. This, paired with an administration platform, lets you stay completely in the know.
- Our dedicated support. Just like Parkalot, we’re not just offering an app – we’re offering our support and expertise in helping you get the most from your parking (or, in this case, the least!). We’ll work with you to get everything running smoothly in your organization.
How can carpooling reduce parking costs?
If every 4 people in your company shared a ride to work together, you would only need 25% of the parking space. If
Likewise, a well managed carpool program helps ensure future growth doesn’t come with equally-scaling parking demands. By ensuring carpark usage is at a minimum, you can still ensure adequate parking management and ensure real estate is dedicated to profitable growth – that is, future office or factory space, rather than parking lots.
This is why it’s vital to have a corporate carpool program. If people plan their own ridesharing, this will be limited to their immediate contacts. Poola, on the other hand, can help connect all involved members to provide the best opportunities and biggest savings.
Improving congestion
Another cost-saving issue to consider is that of congestion. While this doesn’t directly save the company money, it does benefit employees. When congestion occurs (such as when everyone starts or leaves their shift), vehicles can sit with engines running idle. While their not going anywhere, this waiting none the less burns through fuel.
This wastes both time and money, in addition to harming the environment more than necessary. Effective carpooling reduces this excess traffic as much as possible, cutting back on all three factors.
What else can carpooling do?
Corporate ridesharing isn’t just about saving money or parking spaces. There are actually a few other key benefits worth considering!
- It’s greener. We’ve already mentioned that less cars is better for the environment. Poola helps you take your green values and show your employees how easy it is to commute efficiently!
- It reduces stress. The vast majority of people don’t enjoy the morning commute. WIth carpooling, people have to drive less often. Likewise, they won’t be alone for the trip, as they can talk with colleagues and have a more positive start (and end!) to each work day.
- It connects staff. As mentioned earlier, Poola will plan the most efficient commutes. This can result in staff meeting other people in the company they might not otherwise have the chance to connect and talk with. A well integrated organization is never a bad thing!
Furthermore, it’s worth noting that, as a corporate carpool app, Poola is both reliable and safe. Your staff aren’t trusting strangers for a ride or counting on potentially-unreliable individuals for a ride to work. They’re trusting in each other, creating a safe method for everyone!
How can you get started?
We’ve created a model very similar to Parkalot – because we know it works! There are just three crucial steps:
- Talk to us! Every company is different, so we want to know exactly what you need and what kind of workforce you have. By talking to you, we’ll ensure you’re getting the very best out of Poola
- We set everything up! Once we’ve learned about your company, we’ll set Poola up for you, as well as help plan a launch strategy. This can include rewards or other inspiration – whatever it takes to inspire employees.
- Give your staff the app! After we’ve prepared everything, all you’ve got to do is give your app to your workforce. They can sign up, download the app and let it do all the hard work for them.
Think carpooling is a good match for your organization? There’s only one way to find out! Get in touch with us here and let’s work together to introduce ridesharing in your workforce!