Smartriders for Managers

What can you do when all the Corporate Smart Riders you have are not enough? Following the Your Move Awards ceremony, my CEO and Directors were motivated to catch the train to a meeting in Perth. They decided that the Senior Managers should join them. I had a request for 23 SmartRiders! We had participated in a fun activity highlighting public transport, walking and cycling at the Awards function and they listened to presentations about using alternatives to the car, when possible, so I think it was a great outcome.

I had been slowly expanding the number of SmartRiders we had for the City of Cockburn as the original four cards did not go far when everyone needs to attend a conference or meeting in Perth. I also found it difficult providing SmartRiders to staff that worked in other locations and particularly difficult when I moved work locations so that I am around 5 km from most other offices and expanded my holding of cards to a total of 15 so that there are generally cards available when people need them at the major staff locations.

Fortunately I had accrued points on Your Move and had just received an email prompt saying I needed to use some of them up before they expired. It was a logical solution to my problem and a good way to have more cards available for Senior Management. I ordered 10 cards preloaded with $20 via my points. I logged in to Your Move from home one night and placed my order. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the cards at work the next day! It was a simple matter of walking to the train station after work and tagging each card on and off so they were activated and then registering the cards online.

I gave them to the PA to the CEO along with SmartRider policy information and a sign-up sheet. We decided that the easiest way to manage the additional staff catching the train on the day was to buy DayRiders to use in addition to the new SmartRiders. This was easily done at the train station by the PA just before they travelled.

This was a good way for senior staff to trial public transport. The CEO, Directors and Managers all have council vehicles. By travelling by public transport rather than driving to the Perth CBD, they saved money in parking, avoid traffic congestion, were able to continue talking on the train and alighted from the train in a convenient location to attend their meeting. From all reports everything went smoothly and they will be encouraged to use public transport in the future. Plans are underway to move our Administration offices to a location within walking distance of the Cockburn Central Train Station, so I think more staff will be using public transport more often in the not too distant future.