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Apple to Expand Employee Transportation Program with More Shuttles, Dedicated Transit Center

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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appleshuttlecastro.jpg
To earn approval for its Apple 2 Campus in Cupertino, Apple agreed to increase the number of employees using transportation like bicycles and shuttles, according to a new report on commuting in Silicon Valley from The Los Angeles Times.

Apple maintains a Transportation Demand Management program that gives 1,600 of its employees free rides to and from work, using environmentally friendly biodiesel that cuts down on the number of employees using cars. The program has a budget of $35 million, which works out to a cost of approximately $21,875 per employee for transportation at the current point in time.
Apple has a Transportation Demand Management program with an annual budget of $35 million and the goal of getting as many employees as possible out of their cars. It runs the company's fleet of shuttles, all biodiesel, that on average 1,600 employees ride for free each day. The current system provides more than 200 service runs from 55 pickup locations around the Bay Area. Employees can download an app to track the location of the shuttles.
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Currently, 28 percent of Apple employees ride bikes, walk, or ride shuttles to work, a number that the company hopes to increase to 34 percent. To boost the number of employees using alternative transportation, Apple plans to add more shuttles and buses.

A dedicated transit center with eight parking bays is also under construction, with an ultimate goal of having as many as 76 buses and shuttles moving through the center with a park time of three minutes or less.

Commuter shuttles from companies like Apple and Google have become a somewhat controversial issue in San Francisco as of late, subject to several protests over the course of the last few months.

Recently, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency approved a proposal that requires commuter shuttle buses from companies like Apple to pay $1 for each stop they make every day, which is expected to earn the city approximately $1.5 million over the course of 18 months. The program is set to begin in July.

Article Link: Apple to Expand Employee Transportation Program with More Shuttles, Dedicated Transit Center
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/03/31/apple-expanding-employee-transportation-program/
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barkomatic

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2008
4,521
2,826
Manhattan
Fewer cars on the street is a good thing and these types of programs should be encouraged. Unfortunately, perks like free rides to and from work always seem to go to the people who least need them -- like relatively well off tech employees. I'm sure such a service would make a huge impact on someone working for minimum wage that actually has to pay for transportation.
 
S

screensaver400

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2005
858
46
$21,000 per employee?! Wouldn't be be more efficient to just give $30 million to the local transportation authority is to build more roads and general-use mass transit?
 
S

Storm9

macrumors member
Dec 1, 2007
94
18
screensaver400 said:
$21,000 per employee?! Wouldn't be be more efficient to just give $30 million to the local transportation authority is to build more roads and general-use mass transit?
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An extensive public transit system like that serviced by the busses would likely cost closer to $30 Billion not $30 million. (Assuming its using metro rail).
 
O

octothorpe8

macrumors 6502
Feb 27, 2014
424
0
rablat said:
Sure cause we all know the government is so much more efficient in handling money than the private sector.
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Sure cause we all know those roads are somehow magically maintaining themselves through the wonders of capitalism.
 
IJ Reilly

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
dumastudetto said:
This is good news. Apple continues to lead the way in its strategic approach to green corporate policies.
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Hardly. All of the Silicon Valley tech firms provide these busses, and they all share the responsibility for building huge office complexes in areas with inadequate housing opportunities. They are creating the commuting issue in the first place, so in my book they get no gold stars for making it a little less of a problem than it could be.
 
D

dendowling

macrumors member
Aug 29, 2011
30
5
barkomatic said:
Unfortunately, perks like free rides to and from work always seem to go to the people who least need them -- like relatively well off tech employees. I'm sure such a service would make a huge impact on someone working for minimum wage that actually has to pay for transportation.
Click to expand...

The point is not to give out another free perk. The point is to transport people to work using less energy, less road space, and more free time for employees.
 
B

BBCWatcher

macrumors regular
Jan 28, 2008
139
153
Maine
screensaver400 said:
Wouldn't be be more efficient to just give $30 million to the local transportation authority is to build more roads and general-use mass transit?
Click to expand...
Or give $20 million, then the transportation authority could still add lots of express runs and routes to/from Apple's offices. And imagine if every other employer pitched in. Then you'd have whole BRT or MRT lines with stops named "Google," "Facebook," "Apple," "Oracle," and so on.

This could be better.
 
parseckadet

parseckadet

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2010
1,489
1,269
Denver, CO
I find the whole protest issue interesting. Yeah, let's protest Apple and Google and tell them to get the f out. I wonder how the bay area would be doing if all the tech companies actually listened and packed up and left for places like Austin, Seattle, or Denver/Boulder.
 
C

cire

macrumors 6502
Jun 21, 2007
262
0
Give my $21K per employee per year, and I will set up a green fleet of taxis that will provide on-demand transportation to and from Apple (or even Google) and probably make a profit of $10K per year.
 
M

MacUser4_20

macrumors regular
Oct 8, 2004
167
27
California
As someone who has used this "perk" for years, and know many more who use it daily as well, I could not imagine the roads around Apple with 28% more traffic.

The fact that Apple has the willingness to "take" from the bottom line for the good of the environment, congestion of traffic, and less stress for employees should be applauded.

Not to mention the relief of traffic up and down the 101, 85, 280, routes to-and-from SF, SJ, and Gilroy, as well as De Anza, Lawrence, Stevens Creek. The busses and shuttles serve employees in many other surrounding cities, and a few less cars on the road should be encouraged. Who cares what Apple's cost per employee is claimed to be? The fact is, they have this program in place, want to do better with it, yet most of you can only criticize? They have the means, why not use some of it for a little offset to a carbon footprint..
 
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