Bauer’s Wi Drive
The commute to work, whether by public or private transport, is fraught with frustration. You need to get from A to B, and you accept the ten or more hours a week it takes as dead time. Bauer’s Wi Drive is a different kind of commute designed both as a service to companies required to assist their employee’s commute, and one that offers more pleasant and more productive travel.
Customized Commuter Service
In 2008, San Francisco issued a new city ordinance requiring employers with twenty or more employees (including part-time workers) to have a transit benefit program in place. These programs reimburse employees for fares, offer them free shuttle services with company-funded vehicles or set up a payroll deduction that lets them use pretax wages to purchase transit passes.
“We want to encompass all that and make it one seamless transaction. We’re looking to give you back ten hours of your life.”
The Bauer company introduce it’s Wi Drive program to help companies meet these requirements. The program the development of customizable routes. Companies can work together to design routes based on the proximity of employees. The program also allows commuters to band together to design custom routes. In both cases, groups must guarantee the viability the route for an agreed period of time. People who live along the route can use the website to reserve a seat on the buses.
Beyond the customization, Bauer Wi Drive offers a different kind of commute. The buses are high-end, featuring DVD screens, iPod inputs, attendants serving coffee, breakfast or snacks, and of course, free wi-fi. Bauer believes that part of the target market is people driving to work that can want a higher-end form of public transport, and who will benefit of being online while they travel for personal or professional reasons. The company says that if they fill each 52-seat bus with former car commuters, each bus will prevent 1,310 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere every year.
Case Study
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