With the current housing affordability crisis in San Francisco and The Bay Area, more and more employees are being forced to commute to work. It is estimated that more than 100,000 residents in the San Francisco-Bay Area spend at least 90 minutes commuting to work each day.

With the increasing — not to mention dreadful — commute times, companies in the area should consider implementing solutions to create a more commuter-friendly workplace. At Professional Charter Services, we are dedicated to providing businesses and corporations in the area with effective and efficient employee transportation solutions to reduce or eliminate employee commutes. Below, we’ll share a few ways you can improve employee mobility and create a more commuter-friendly workplace.

Link Your Office to Public Transit With Last Mile Shuttles

At Professional Charter Services, we offer simple and convenient last mile transportation solutions to improve the accessibility of your campus or workplace. Our last mile shuttle programs offer a safe and reliable method of transportation between your campus or workplace and public transit stations for your employees. These services make it easier for employees to quickly get to work, keep them safe from adverse weather conditions, and reward and encourage punctuality.

Last Mile Shuttles are a simple solution for any company whose employees have to travel that “last mile” between the nearest public transportation stop and your office or workplace.

Connect Buildings and Parking With Intercampus Shuttles

Intercampus shuttle services are ideal for companies with a workplace campus that has multiple buildings or locations, or an employee parking lot is a distance from the office, requiring people to walk a long way from their car to get to work. Intercampus shuttles are a great way to link all your buildings and parking lots using a campus-wide transit system. Not only are intercampus more efficient and convenient for employees, but they contribute to eco-friendly practices as well.

Keep Employee’s Moving With Corporate Commuter Services

The stresses of traffic and trying to find a parking space can take a lot out of your employees. Instead of having your employees sit through traffic, struggle to find a parking place, and then have to walk a long way to the office each day for work, why not let them do their commute in comfort? With corporate commuter services, you can do just that!

As one of the leading providers of commuter services to corporate clients in the Bay Area, we offer contract shuttles that make the daily commute safe and convenient for your employees. At specific points, our charter buses will pick up your employees and drop them off at your campus location and vice versa at the end of the workday, eliminating the need of taking public transportation or drive to and from work. Employees will enjoy faster commute times and a more relaxing experience on the road – a perk that will keep personnel happy and help attract top talent!

These are just a few of the ways companies and corporations can improve employee mobility and create a more commuter-friendly workplace. If you are interested in employee transportation services, contact the experts at Professional Charter Services today!

If you are a company in Silicon Valley or the San Francisco Bay area, you may have considered the possibility of implementing a last mile shuttle service to get your employees to work. Last mile shuttle service is a solution that meets your employees at the ferry, the nearest public transit stop, or the last drop-off point where they can’t get any closer to the office without walking. They board the last mile shuttle and ride in comfort to the workplace rather than arriving all hot and sweaty (or wet and soggy) after walking the remaining distance to the office. It’s a great concept, and more and more of the local area businesses are doing this. But how do you know if it’s for you? Here are some of the top ways that you can tell if you need a last mile shuttle provider.

1. You have employees who don’t drive their cars to work

San Francisco is one of the unique places in the United States where it’s almost more hassle to own a car than the benefit that it gives you. If you live in the city, you can easily get all your everyday errands done without having a car, so lots of people do this. Your employees who don’t drive cars will have to take public transportation to work, and they will have to find a way to get the “last mile”

2. You are located far from the nearest transit stop

You don’t have to be a literal, 5280-foot mile away from the nearest transit stop for it to be a worthwhile thing to implement a last mile shuttle. Even a short distance of 200 yards from the nearest bus stop can be a 3-minute walk, which could be pretty uncomfortable in a downpour. Your employees will be grateful to trade their walk of any distance for a comfortable ride in an air-conditioned coach.

3. Some employees regularly take a taxi

If you notice that employees regularly show up at work in a Uber, Lyft, or other taxi—despite riding most of their way to work on public transportation—it’s a sure sign that a last mile shuttle would be a welcome solution. If people are overcoming the problem of getting to the office by paying for their own ride, that’s going to cost them a lot of extra money per month. In this economy, a last mile shuttle will be a sure-fire winner to delight your employees and put a few dollars back in their pockets.

4. You have employees with health issues

Not everyone is in perfect health. There is a large number of people who are well enough to work (and they have to keep working to provide for their livelihood) but their health presents a big challenge. If someone is struggling with physical issues, it will be difficult for them to walk even a short distance to work. Anyone who is fighting against fatigue, inflammation, or chronic pain will have a hard time navigating distances that are simple for some people, and the cost of their energy expenditure can take a toll on their productivity for the rest of the day. A last mile shuttle can save them from expending that energy on walking to the office after the last public transport stop, ensuring that they can offer more of their best work once the shift starts.

5. You want to attract top talent

If you want to attract top talent, you need to have extremely strong employee perks, and a last mile shuttle is one of these amazing offerings. Employees will see the last mile shuttle as a sign that you’re serious about their well-being, and they’ll appreciate the fact that you’re doing everything possible to facilitate their movements, rain or shine.

6. You are located outside the city

A lot of the thriving companies here in the Silicon Valley are located outside the city limits of San Francisco, as there’s simply more opportunity for office space further away from the city. You have your office space in the suburbs, but your employees live downtown in the city (where they don’t use cars). They can easily get from their house to the nearest transit stop, because in San Francisco, the nearest transit stop is never very far away. However, public transit doesn’t serve all areas equally. They can’t easily get from the last transit stop to the office. There’s the problem. Even if they do have an available transfer that gets them closer to the office, waiting on that bus might eat up valuable time that adds a heavy burden to their daily commute. You make things faster, easier, and smoother for them when you simply pick them up in a shuttle and bring them the rest of the way to the office.

7. You are located inside the city

We’ve already established that transit stops are numerous inside the city, but a last mile shuttle service can still be a valuable offering for the companies that are downtown. Whether your parking lot is far away, you have multiple people using the ferry and want to save them a transfer, or you simply want to streamline everyone’s day, a last mile shuttle can pick people up at all the different places where your employees are waiting and transport them safely to your doors.

8. You have employees using multiple different transit types

Some people ride the ferry to get to work. Some people take BART or the CalTrain. Others drive their own personal vehicles. Still others might ride a bicycle or use other ride-sharing alternatives. For the people who are on public transportation, ow do you coordinate all the ways that your employees might be arriving to work? Simple. You just look at what time your workday starts, what time the various ferries, buses, and trains will be arriving, and then send a shuttle to all of those different sites in order of arrival time. You can get way more complex and fancy and build an app and track passengers and so forth, but you don’t really need to. You just need your shuttle to be waiting when all the passengers spill out of the doors. Your employees will make a beeline for their shuttle, and they’ll ride to work in peace. Simple.

9. You’re tired of the system failing you

Construction. Mechanical failure. Breakdowns. Delays. Overloaded infrastructure. If multiple failures of the public transportation system have caused your employees to arrive late to work, it’s not necessarily their fault. While most employees will plan some “buffer” time into their commute because of how unpredictable things can be, it’s not always possible to account for every contingency. The local public transit system is already at capacity, leading to a lot of headaches when something breaks down. Rather than having your employees wait for a bus that might be running late (and won’t even get them all the way to your office), why not simply pick them up at the closest transit stop and eliminate the guesswork?

Get a quote for Last Mile Shuttle Service

Implementing last mile shuttle service doesn’t have to be complicated. When you contract it out to Professional Charter Services, we’ll make sure that you’re well taken care of. We can help you think through the logistics of a last mile shuttle, ensure that it’s affordable, and design it to fit your best interests. Getting started is easy! Simply contact us and ask for a quote. We’ll be happy to help. Contact us today!

San Francisco is a unique city in the United States, and with all the software and venture capital firms in and around the city, it’s no wonder that we have a few perks and amenities that other cities simply don’t have. Unlike other places in America, we haven’t had the luxury to spread out further and further, thanks to our unique geography. Instead, we’ve had to innovate and come up with compelling, elegant solutions that make it possible to be here, do what we do, and remain insanely productive, all while handling challenges that out-of-towners simply can’t fathom. (We can just hear the visitors now: “What do you mean I have to pay to park my car? Wait, what do you mean I have to plan time to drive around looking for a parking space? How do you get anything done?”) And the locals smile and nod knowingly and think to themselves, “That’s why I don’t drive.”

With a large part of the population not driving (because here, a car slows you down, not speeds you up), we’ve come up with other ways to get people from point A to point B. Whether that means getting to work on time, navigating the shopping experience, or simply visiting a friend, San Francisco has people covered, and we do it all with a vibrant hum of energetic positivity that makes people love to live here (most of the time, until that out-of-town driver gets in front of you).

One of the solutions that San Francisco businesses are implementing more and more is that of last mile shuttles. Smart corporations are figuring out that the smoother they make it for employees to transition between the last public transportation exit and the front door of your company, the more productive and positive employees will be during the work day. Last mile shuttles are a simple solution that is a no-brainer for any company whose employees have to travel that “last mile” between the nearest public transportation stop and your job site. No, it may not be a full mile, but giving people a lift for that short distance can be a big deal. Here are some of the benefits of implementing last mile shuttle service in San Francisco.

1. Last mile shuttles make it faster and easier for people to get to work

Your bottom line depends on employees getting to work. While it’s true that the main responsibility rests on every individual employee to figure out how to get to work, the best companies proactively look for ways to streamline this process and make it as foolproof as possible.

This reduces friction and frustration for both parties. When the employee is late to work, two people are unhappy: The employer is upset and the employee is stressed. When the employee is on time to work, both parties are happy.

How do last mile connections help with this? Just before it’s time to show up to work, a shuttle bus makes a scheduled stop at each of the nearest public transit stops to meet your employees who have congregated there. They board the shuttle and ride in comfort the rest of the way to work, enjoying air conditioning and wifi. When you consider that for most people the only alternative would be to walk, you can easily see how much faster and easier it will be for people to get to work.

Curious to know what stops to consider for your last mile shuttle service to make? Here are some of the popular choices:

• BART
• CALTrain
• Ferry
• SamTrans Bus stops
• Muni Bus/Metro Stops

2. Last mile shuttles save people from boarding a secondary form of transportation

Any time a rider has to switch between one form of transportation and another, there’s invariably a period of “dead time” where they have to stand around and wait for the next bus (or other vehicle) to arrive. “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

If your employees have to switch between or one or more different forms of transportation (or even between one or more lines on the same type of transit), they are losing valuable time in the process, and at the end, they still won’t get dropped off at your door. Change the ending of this story. When you get a custom solution that picks them up at the nearest transit stop and delivers them straight to your building, you will be enabling your employees to save valuable time every day. They’ll lose less time, arrive less frazzled, and hit the ground running when they walk in the door.

3. Last mile shuttles reward and encourage punctuality

A professional arrives to work on time, and when you cultivate punctuality, you cultivate professionalism in your workforce. This lets you reap far more benefits than simply facilitating people’s trip to work. You also promote the kind of positive qualities in your employees that will make them better workers in all areas. When people make “being a professional’ part of their identity, then they will begin to pursue all the things that go along with that identity, and they’ll begin to make progress on implementing them.

There are few things more frustrating than trying to arrive punctually and having one obstacle after another stand in your way.

• The car wouldn’t start.
• The bus was late.
• I tripped on the sidewalk and had to tend to a bloodied knee.
• I dropped my briefcase and the wind blew my papers everywhere.
• I forgot my transit pass and had to buy a single ticket.

OK, you’ll still probably hear some excuses of the “dog-ate-my-homework” variety for why people couldn’t arrive on time to work, but implementing a last mile transportation solution will reduce these kinds of complaints. Your employees will see that you’re doing your utmost to make it easy for them to be punctual, and you’ll hear fewer excuses for why they didn’t make it in on time.

4. Last mile shuttles encourage people not to drive

We all have our part to do for the planet, and reducing emissions every day is a small (but impactful) way to do this. Anything that we can do to cut down on the number of hours that cars are driving on the road is a contribution to this effort. If your employees are used to hailing a uber or other ride-sharing option when they get to the last public transit stop before reaching the office, that’s a whole lot of individual vehicles driving that distance. Why not replace that with a shuttle that carries everyone at once? Your employees will keep a few more dollars in their pocket, and the planet will come out just a little cleaner.

5. Last mile shuttles get people out of the rain

We have great weather here in San Francisco, but it does rain some of the time, and no one wants to walk in to the office soaking wet. Even if there’s just a fine drizzle, you get a whole line of droplets up the back of your legs when your feet pick up water from the ground. That’s no fun, and what if you have to meet a client? That Uber ride is starting to look pretty attractive after all.

A last mile shuttle lets people walk in rested and refreshed rather than flustered and annoyed. Don’t let the rain get your employees’ spirits down to start the day off wrong.

6. Last mile shuttles improve morale

You’d be amazed how much of a difference in morale it can make when you implement a last mile connection service. This one generous step will alleviate the exertion that your employees have to make while getting to work, and that will evoke a feeling of gratefulness in your workforce. (It can also make it easier to attract top talent). The moment an employee starts feeling grateful, they stop feeling critical. This boost in happy emotions can help to spike morale and positivity throughout your workforce, as it will be easy for everyone to see how this benefits them.

Instead of leaving the house 30 minutes earlier in order to catch the earlier train, only to spend 10 minutes of dead time waiting for the second form of transportation to arrive, that new dad will get that much more time with his kids.

Instead of lugging a heavy briefcase from the last bus stop to the office and arriving breathless and sweaty, that executive will walk in the door refreshed and rested.

Instead of wearing a rain-friendly outfit and carrying a change of clothes and shoes to put on at the office, that secretary will be able to go ahead and dress up nicely at home on rainy days.

These kinds of thoughts will fly through people’s minds as they absorb the implications to them of having a last mile shuttle to ride to the office, and a sense of relief and anticipation will wash over them even as you make the announcement that you’re implementing this. You’ll enjoy a boost of morale and all the secondary effects that come with it, such as a reduction in complaining and negativity, a surge of creativity, and a more productive month overall.

Call Professional Charter Services To Start Your Last Mile Shuttle Service

When you need a last mile shuttle in San Francisco, contact Professional Charter Services. We can implement a solution that’s custom-built for your needs, your office hours, and the ways your employees arrive to work. There’s a reason why companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook are using company shuttles to take people to and from work. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll never look back. Getting started is simple: just contact us and ask for a quote! We look forward to serving you, so contact us today.

If your company or workplace is looking at implementing a last mile shuttle service, congratulations! This is an exciting step that you won’t want to look back from once you take it. Last Mile Shuttle Service is an employee delighter that will allow you to get more productive and loyal employees and attract better talent. This service will pick your people up from their last transit stop and drop them off at your front door. Then, at the end of the day, we’ll pick them up again and drop them off at the nearest location or most logical dropoff point for the Cal Train, BART, bus, or ferry. This will save your employees valuable time, make them less stressed and more productive, and even earn you goodwill in the public eye.

However, a last mile shuttle service isn’t for everyone, and making the decision to do it will require you to look at several factors. Take a look at the following points to see if last mile shuttle service would be a good fit for you.

Size of your company

The number of employees you have is one of the biggest factors that will make a difference in whether a last mile shuttle service will be a viable option for you. However, don’t consider yourself to be automatically shut out if you’re a small business. First, consider that even if you have as few as three to four employees who would need a last mile shuttle, you don’t have to send a huge, 60-passenger bus for them. Our fleet includes vehicles like an executive SUV and Lincoln Town Car, meaning that you could simply have us send a smaller vehicle if you have fewer employees.

Another point for small businesses to consider is this: If you would benefit from a last mile shuttle but can’t quite afford it until you’re larger, why not pay a visit to the neighboring businesses on each side of you and see if they’d like to collaborate with you? All your employees are going to be heading for the same transit terminals—why not pick up all of them and share the cost? It will be a benefit to your neighbors and might foster additional goodwill between your companies.

Distance from transit stops

If you’re lucky enough to be located in the Financial District, you’re in the area with the most densely-packed concentration of transit stops available. However, not every business is located there or lucky enough to be within a block or two of the closest bus stop. Even if you are, it may be one that runs on a less-frequent schedule, while the main terminal where most people will be arriving is a mile or more away. Even in the financial district, people arriving from the ferry have to either walk from the ferry stop, catch a taxi, or board another type of public transportation.

The farther away you are from the nearest transit stops, the more sense it makes for you to join our Last Mile Shuttle Service plan and offer your employees a comfortable ride to work.

Number of changes that employees have to make

Any time your employees have to change lines or board a different type of transportation, they’re losing valuable time. Would you rather that this time be dedicated to productive work, or have it spent with people being stressed out over whether they will make it to work? A last mile shuttle can help you to opt for the former. Your employees are undoubtedly very good at navigating the transportation network and changing lines as needed, but there is a better way. Offer them the chance to reclaim that lost time and eliminate the distress over missing a stop and having to wait 20 minutes for the next bus or train, making them late to work.

Shifts / staggered arrivals

Do your employees all arrive at a uniform time of day, or do you have shifts of work or staggered arrivals? It’ll be simpler to implement last mile shuttle services if everyone is expected to arrive at work and leave at the same schedule. However, if the number of your employees is high enough for each shift, you might be able to justify running a last mile shuttle for each one.

Set up your last mile shuttle service today

Getting started is easy — simply ask us for a quote. From there, you can evaluate the decision and we’ll work together on the next steps to getting your shuttle service set up.

When your business is considering implementing any new service that costs money, one of your first questions will be whether you have the budget for it. However, the bigger question is whether you can get a return on investment from allocating that budget to that tool or service. For instance, if you could make a $5000 investment that brought you a $200,000 return, it would suddenly be a lot easier find the budget for that item, even if you didn’t initially think that you had any spare cash to work with. In other words, it’s not necessarily about the presence or absence of budget, but rather the return that you can stand to gain.

So let’s look at the return on investment for our Last Mile Shuttle Service in San Francisco. What do you get back when you invest in a service like this?

Monetary Returns

While we can’t promise that you’ll get a return to the tune of six figures like in the example above, our shuttle bus company does believe that you get a lot in return for implementing a Last Mile Shuttle Service for your company. Here are some of the areas where you’ll benefit from offering your employees this option, in ways that translate to dollars.

1. Employees Are More Productive

The way that Last Mile Shuttles work is that they provide your employees a smooth and comfortable ride from the last public transit stop to your premises, sparing them from having to walk. Then, at the end of the day, the Last Mile Shuttle will pick people up at the door and drop them off at the nearest stop for the Caltrain, BART, bus, or ferry.

One of the biggest returns you’ll get from the investment in a Last Mile Shuttle Service is that your employees will arrive to work in a frame of mind that’s more rested, calm, and tranquil. Rather than having to fight with inclement weather and uncomfortable shoes while they walk to the office lugging a heavy briefcase and lunch bag, they can simply board the shuttle, ride in comfort, and walk in the door without breaking a sweat. The benefit of this is that it reduces stress and negativity. It also cuts down on the amount of time that gets lost at the beginning of every day while people are trying to switch gears for work and get their heads in the game.

How much would even 15 minutes of extra productivity per employee per day be worth to you? If that dead space can be filled with productive work by implementing a Last Mile Shuttle Service, that alone could pay for itself many times over.

Plus, there are lots of ideas of what you can do to enhance the amount that your employees take advantage of the shuttle. For instance, you could declare the first hour of each day an email-free zone and ask everyone to walk in the door having already checked their email on the shuttle’s wifi on the ride to work. (Obviously, this will not fit with all roles, but if you find that email is creating a distraction to “real” work, it can be an option to consider.) Or, you could hold a training on how to use the shuttle ride to get your head in the game so that you walk in to work charged up and ready to go. You could even choose a series of 5-minute clips of motivational, inspirational material to play over the shuttle bus’s speaker system.

2. HR Can Attract Better Talent

It’s no secret that San Francisco companies are competing harder than ever to win top talent. Employee perks like free food, transit passes, and nap pods are becoming more commonplace than ever. When your company offers Last Mile Shuttle Service, it can be a way to stand out from the pack and be noticed by the applicants whose qualifications would allow them to take their pick of positions around the Bay area. It’s an undeniable job perk when employees understand that they’ll be paying less for transit, won’t have to fight to park their car, and won’t have to settle for either hailing an Uber or walking from the last transit stop to the workplace.

The return of landing even one all-star employee is Incalculable, as the work they do not only benefits you directly, it also raises the bar for everyone around them, causing coworkers and team members to also press on to new heights.

Offering a Last Mile Shuttle Service is an easy way to make your company stand out among the other businesses where that people are applying, and it’s also affordable. Get a quote today.

Other Intangible Returns

When we talk about intangible returns on your investment, these are things that don’t translate quite as directly to dollars, but that still represent a gain for your company.

Employees Are Happier

When you reduce the stress on your employees, they will be happier, and when people are happier, it cuts down on workplace negativity. Everyone knows how much poison even one negative employee can spread, and there are far-reaching benefits for reducing that negativity and fostering positivity and happiness.

Another source of that happiness might be that your workers get to claim that little bit of extra family time (the amount of time they would have had to allocate to walk from the last transit stop to work). When you’re working 40+ hour weeks with a one-hour commute on both ends of every workday, even a fractional increase in family time is a gift. And a person doesn’t have to have a family to be happy about reclaiming that fraction of an hour. Whether they use that time for their studies, their pets. their hobbies, or just plain downtime, a few minutes of time is a valuable prize.

Employees Are More Relaxed

Giving back even a few minutes of time to people can help them to feel more relaxed, and this, again, has benefits in the workplace. People who are relaxed outside of work have far more fuel to burn when it’s time to turn on the drive for performance at the workplace.

Employees Are More Loyal

When you roll out an employee perk like Last Mile Shuttle Service, your employees won’t see it as a gain for you — they’ll see it as a gain for themselves. This can cause employee loyalty and morale to spike. It’s good for business when your employees think thoughts like these about you:

• My company is generous to their employees.
• People in leadership treat subordinates well.
• My boss is looking out for the well-being of employees

Implementing an offering like Last Mile Shuttle Service is a great way to trigger a flood of thoughts like these in people’s minds.

Don’t Wait — Implement Last Mile Shuttle Service At Your Company

Take the first step to getting Last Mile Shuttle Service for your business or workplace. Ask Professional Charter Services for a quote today.