Company shuttles : how can they be managed more effectively?

Every day, thousands of employees travel to their place of work, very often alone in their vehicles. This daily ballet, although necessary, leads to an increase in CO₂ emissions & contributes to road congestion. Yet there is an alternative: company shuttles.

But one question remains: are these shuttles really optimised to be as efficient as they are environmentally friendly? What good are they if they run half-empty or on unsuitable routes? How can they become a real lever for sustainable mobility, rather than just a public transport solution?

In this article, we reveal the best strategies for rethinking the management of your company shuttles.

The environmental challenges of company shuttles.

1. The carbon footprint of business travel.

Today, commutes between home and work account for a significant proportion of companies’ greenhouse gas emissions.

The transport sector alone is responsible for around 34% of CO₂ emissions in UK, and business travel makes a major contribution to this, particularly when employees use their private cars.

Autosolism – the reflex of travelling alone by car – is today one of the major contributors to urban congestion & excessive pollution.

Against this backdrop, reducing the impact of home-to-work journeys is an imperative for any company wishing to make the ecological transition.

2. Company shuttles as an alternative to car use.

Imagine for a moment a scenario other than self-drive. Your employees take a comfortable shuttle, designed for their well-being. They meet up with colleagues, have light-hearted discussions & sometimes even take advantage of the journey to answer a few emails in peace.

No more time wasted complaining about the traffic, no more fuel wasted in constant stops, but an optimised journey & a considerably reduced carbon footprint.

By pooling journeys, these shuttles reduce the number of vehicles on the road, thereby limiting CO₂ emissions & dependence on fossil fuels. For example, a journey that previously required ten individual cars can now be made by a single shuttle, dividing the pollution generated by as much.

And what if these shuttles were electric, hybrid or powered by biofuels? The environmental impact would be all the more virtuous, offering a solution that combines efficiency and ecological responsibility.

3. The benefits for the company of introducing these company shuttles.

By offering an alternative to car use, you are not only reducing your company’s carbon footprint, you are also improving the quality of life of your employees, while optimising the management of your resources.

Imagine your employee arriving at the office after an hour’s drive in traffic jams, stressed by the delay & exhausted before they’ve even started their day. Now imagine that same employee, comfortably seated in a company shuttle, taking advantage of the journey time to relax, chat with colleagues and get on with their projects. In what scenario will they be more motivated and productive?

The well-being of your employees is now a major issue for any company wishing to retain its talent and attract new profiles.

By introducing shuttles, you can offer your employees a safe, comfortable and less restrictive transport solution that reduces the fatigue associated with travelling and the stress associated with traffic hazards.

This benefit may seem trivial, but it plays a decisive role in job satisfaction and talent retention.

How can you optimise the organisation of company shuttles? 5 ideas.

1. Collect data on your employees’ commuting habits.

It’s essential to understand exactly how your employees travel. Everyone has specific needs: some live on the outskirts of town and need to combine several modes of transport, while others prefer flexible working hours to reconcile their professional and personal lives. Without this information, it’s difficult to offer a service that’s really tailored to their needs.

A mobility survey enables you to collect this data in a structured way. You can use it to identify strategic departure points, the most popular times and any special requirements, such as the presence of Wi-Fi and USB sockets on board.

For example, if you find that a large number of your employees live near a station, it might be a good idea to add a stop there to encourage intermodality with public transport.

This information gathering should not be a one-off event, but a regular occurrence.

By analysing this data over time, you can adjust your service in line with changing travel patterns. If a 6.30 p.m. slot is little used but the 6 p.m. slot is saturated, a simple adjustment will improve the fluidity of the service & the comfort of your employees.

A pragmatic and effective approach to optimising mobility.

2. Use geolocation tools to establish short, less polluting journeys.

It’s clear: it’s not enough to know your employees’ travel habits, you also need to map out relevant routes. Thanks to geolocation tools, you can establish shorter, faster and, above all, less polluting routes.

Rather than following a fixed route, these tools allow you to adapt the route according to the traffic situation in real time. For example, if a main road is congested, the shuttle can take an alternative route to avoid traffic jams and reduce fuel consumption.

What’s more, by analysing the most popular pick-up and drop-off points, you can group stops together more strategically: there’s no need to multiply detours if a central point can serve several areas efficiently.

Another advantage: by combining geolocation with ridership data, you can adjust the number of shuttles per route. If a route is regularly underused, it’s better to reduce its frequency & reinforce a more popular route. In this way, you can limit empty runs and optimise your fleet’s environmental impact.

The result: fewer CO₂ emissions, a better service for your employees & smarter mobility.

3. Plan departure slots according to working hours.

At the same time, and to maximise the efficiency of your shuttles, it is important to align them with your employees’ actual working hours. Even a slight difference can lead to unnecessary waiting times & under-utilisation of your fleet.

Start by analysing the arrival and departure times. If your teams start at 9am, but some employees arrive as early as 8.30am for lack of a more precise time slot, that’s time lost for them.

Conversely, if some of your staff finish at 6pm and others at 7pm, a single shuttle at 6.30pm is likely to satisfy no-one. By offering several adapted departures – for example at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm – you avoid rushing and prolonged waiting.

Also think about staggered working hours and teleworking. If some employees only come to the office a few days a week, you can adapt the frequency of the shuttles to suit busy days. Similarly, in an environment with 2×8 or 3×8 teams, evening and early morning slots are essential.

By adjusting your timetables as closely as possible to actual needs, you can avoid empty runs, optimise your resources and offer your employees a smooth, efficient transport service.

4. Make it easier to manage company shuttles by requiring advance booking.

To avoid overloaded shuttles or, conversely, half-empty journeys, advance booking is an effective solution. It allows you to optimise shuttle occupancy and anticipate your employees’ real transport needs.

With the Sharvy application, each employee can reserve a seat in advance & the time slot that suits them. The way it works is simple: your shuttles leave from different points in the morning to reach the company site, then make the opposite journey at the end of the day. Given the limited number of seats available, reservations are made via the generic resources module, on a FIFO (first come, first served) basis.

Thanks to this system, you can reduce uncertainty and optimise each journey. You no longer need to add a shuttle in a hurry, or let one run half empty.

5. Integrate multimodal transport solutions for a complete service

To optimise your company shuttles, don’t limit yourself to a single service: opt for a multimodal approach. By combining several transport solutions, you can offer your employees valuable flexibility & reduce their dependence on the private car.

For example, install secure cycle parking or offer a self-service bicycle hire scheme. You’ll be encouraging those who live a few kilometres from the site to opt for a more environmentally-friendly mode of transport.

Company car-sharing can also be an effective addition to your offer. If an employee living in a poorly served area is unable to use the shuttle, making an internal platform available to share a journey with a colleague becomes a simple & sustainable alternative.

The Sharvy application is connected by API with the KAROS car-sharing application to facilitate this process.

By facilitating the interconnection between these different solutions, you can streamline your employees’ experience while reducing unnecessary emissions. A shuttle should not be a constraint, but a link in an efficient and responsible transport ecosystem.

In conclusion

There’s no doubt about it: managing company shuttles is more than just calculating routes and time slots: it’s a real opportunity to redefine the way we travel on a daily basis.

Each shuttle becomes a link in a sustainable mobility chain, and each choice made to better organise travel becomes a step towards a greener, more coherent future. At the end of the day, rethinking company shuttles is much more than a logistical issue; it’s an act of commitment for the company and for the planet.

Got a question? Check out these FAQs !

How do you deal with unforeseen circumstances, such as a delayed or cancelled shuttle?

Managing unforeseen events can be made easier thanks to real-time communication with employees. Using a dedicated application such as Sharvy, you can quickly notify users in the event of delays or cancellations, while offering them alternative solutions such as car pooling or public transport.

How can the management of company shuttles be adapted to the increase in teleworking?

With the increase in teleworking, it may be necessary to review the frequency and timetable of shuttle services to better adapt to the needs of employees present at the office on certain days. You can offer more flexible slots & adjust the transport offer according to the days employees are in the office, while keeping shuttles available for those who work at a distance in part.