Changes

=== Advantages of Ridesharing for the GC ===

=== Advantages of Ridesharing for the GC ===

Ridesharing platforms offer benefits to users and the institutional GC alike. Ridesharing platforms offer greater convenience to users, more accessibility features for people with disabilities, the ability the schedule rides in advance and better plan out travel, share to location with teammates, reduce wait times for vehicles and to provide greater clarity in directions to drivers. Users are also able to leverage promotions from frequent usage across personal and departmental payment methods offering a perk somewhat akin to travel points, and similarly garner a higher quality of driver if they themselves maintain a high rating, with members of the Transport Canada pilot roll-out anecdotally noting a higher level of professionalism among drivers.

Ridesharing platforms offer benefits to users and the institutional GC alike. Ridesharing platforms offer greater convenience to users, more accessibility features for people with disabilities, the ability to schedule rides in advance and better plan out travel, share to location with teammates, reduce wait times for vehicles and to provide greater clarity in directions to drivers. Users are also able to leverage promotions from frequent usage across personal and departmental payment methods offering a perk somewhat akin to travel points, and similarly garner a higher quality of driver if they themselves maintain a high rating, with members of the Transport Canada pilot roll-out anecdotally noting a higher level of professionalism among drivers.

From an institutional standpoint, departmental ridehailing platforms are significantly less onerous on departmental finance departments, eliminating tasks that are time-intensive and tedious while freeing up time for more complex or urgent job functions. Departmental ridehailing platforms offer much greater accountability, showing the exact route, time and cost per ride, and offering the availability to rapidly identify variations that might indicate misuse. Preliminary research from CSPS and Transport Canada suggested an overall cost-saving of roughly 40% compared to the medallion (taxi chit) system which is the default used in the government of Canada, which tends to cost more per ride while charging an administration fee on top of each fare.

From an institutional standpoint, departmental ridehailing platforms are significantly less onerous on departmental finance departments, eliminating tasks that are time-intensive, costly and tedious while freeing up time for more complex or urgent job functions. Departmental ridehailing platforms offer much greater accountability, showing the exact route, time and cost per ride, and offering the availability to rapidly identify variations that might indicate misuse. Preliminary research from CSPS and Transport Canada suggested an overall cost-saving of roughly 40% compared to the medallion (taxi chit) system which is the default used in the government of Canada, which tends to cost more per ride while charging an administration fee on top of each fare.

Departmental ridesharing also offers greater opportunities for ongoing digital transformation and can permit new downstream functionalities once deployed. This is because departmental ridesharing takes a process whose information byproduct comes in the form of boxes of isolated and non-integrated paper slips about past trips and replaces it with a fully digital system which can offer insights about usage patterns and offer alternatives for future practices. For instance, this information can be used to inform future transit services, the availability of alternative modes of transportation (like bikes or scooters), opportunities for systematically reducing the GC's carbon footprint and costs, or even inform real-property considerations over time. Digital transformation and departmental ridehailing are in essence complimentary endeavours.   

Departmental ridesharing also offers greater opportunities for ongoing digital transformation and can permit new downstream functionalities once deployed. This is because departmental ridesharing takes a process whose information byproduct comes in the form of boxes of isolated and non-integrated paper slips about past trips and replaces it with a fully digital system which can offer insights about usage patterns and offer alternatives for future practices. For instance, this information can be used to inform future transit services, the availability of alternative modes of transportation (like bikes or scooters), opportunities for systematically reducing the GC's carbon footprint and costs, or even inform real-property considerations over time. Digital transformation and departmental ridehailing are in essence complimentary endeavours.