Our Sustainability Manager, Maja Zidov shares an update on three travel initiatives to help us get to campus…
Last month, we shared results of our bi-annual travel survey. Thanks again to everyone that engaged and congratulations to Dr Babar Mahmood and Mervyn Paitry for winning the Fit Bit and Gift Card respectively.
The development on our E-bike fleet for staff was one of the most talked about topics of the survey. Below you will find useful responses to the questions asked, including updates on our HOP card trials and our Uniwaka carpooling app initiatives.
E-bike fleet for staff
There are three key ways organisations like us provide staff access to e-bikes
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Rebates or wage advance/loan to staff, paid back through salary deduction
Unfortunately due to Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) we cannot implement this – it would result in our bikes being taxed at 64%. We’re trying to support tax law change in FBT, and you can help… In 2021 the Clean Transport FBT Exclusion Bill was introduced into parliament, which included bikes. The second version, for some reason, no longer has bikes listed as an exclusion from FBT. This needs fixing. Please make a submission to even the playing field, and help more people get on bikes. We have eight days left. Follow this link for more details.
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Negotiating and coordinating bulk buy deals
We’ve also looked into negotiating discounted bulk buy deals for e-bikes, so the purchase agreement is directly made between the supplier and our employees – so no FBT. We partnered with Big Street Bikers in 2019 and were in talks with other suppliers, but once Covid hit and demand went through the roof and they were no longer that keen (or available) to discuss bulk buy deals. But this is a conversation we picked up last month and are close to locking in a deal to share with you.
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Company-owned bike fleet for staff to use
At Unitec, this has been in place since 2016. We have five e-bikes and five push bikes stationed in B110, all of which are currently out of use. We are waiting for one more e-bike to be returned and will then take them for very much needed maintenance. Our aim is to have them back in circulation as soon as possible and bookable for riders around campus (a great team-building activity) and overnight commutes between work and home.
HOP card trials
Did you know that Mt Albert campus has a direct train or bus route to 18 suburbs across our city? To engage new commuters, AT offers a free two-week trial of buses and trains. Recently, 36 of our staff signed up and gave it a go. To apply you need to fill out Auckland Transport’s short survey and if you qualify, you’ll receive an Auckland Transport HOP card pre-loaded with credit, to trial public transport for two weeks. It’s a great way to test out an active commute to work instead of sitting in your car. It’s not just for use during peak times, you can use it in the evenings or weekends and make savings on parking and taxis!
Click on the map below to see a bigger version of the Mt Albert campus transport network map, including the route numbers, strops and surrounding roads and pedestrian links.
Uniwaka
In July we ran a month-long beta-test trial of the Unitec-developed carpooling app – Uniwaka. There were 120 expressions of interest (71 staff and 49 students) and 87 of those downloaded the app and gave it a go. During the beta-test we uncovered some bugs and gained both driver and rider insights. Next week, we will be sharing these insights and our journey thus far, at T-tech22 Future Transport Conference. Wish us luck!
Since the trial, our coding team (delayed by long Covid) has fixed the bugs. The newest version of the app is now with our IT team, helping us with the scope and a quote for external cyber security test. This security testing forms last part of our business case, with the overall objective of making the app available via Google and App stores. We continue to partner with Auckland Transport and are grateful for their continued support for making this app available to the public and other sustainability-driven organisations.
Maja