Changes

With it widely known that a growing number of departments are adopting departmental ridesharing, much of the inertial resistance to departmental ridesharing is dissipating with the understanding that it is an improvement has been de-risked elsewhere. For those with lingering concerns, pilot programs can be a successful gambit for getting a foot in the door without taking on a prohibitive amount of risk. A pilot with a pre-defined user group will limit risk even more while also helping to give departmental finance teams the opportunity to get accustomed to the new interface and capabilities that come with a departmental ridesharing system. With the increasing data richness that comes with departmental ridesharing, it is possible to clearly evaluate the results of the pilot and compare against control groups.   

With it widely known that a growing number of departments are adopting departmental ridesharing, much of the inertial resistance to departmental ridesharing is dissipating with the understanding that it is an improvement has been de-risked elsewhere. For those with lingering concerns, pilot programs can be a successful gambit for getting a foot in the door without taking on a prohibitive amount of risk. A pilot with a pre-defined user group will limit risk even more while also helping to give departmental finance teams the opportunity to get accustomed to the new interface and capabilities that come with a departmental ridesharing system. With the increasing data richness that comes with departmental ridesharing, it is possible to clearly evaluate the results of the pilot and compare against control groups.   

Successful pilots will continue to expand the authorized user group until ultimately all the individuals in the department are authorized to use ride sharing, should they choose to. For those with ongoing concerns after a first pilot, it can help to suggest that new users are selected through a snowballing process or are to be included on request. Calls for the user group to solely composed of managers should be resisted because it limits the diversity of the user group and potential trip types captured in a pilot, making the data less useful for a future review.   

Successful pilots will continue to expand the authorized user group until ultimately all the individuals in the department are authorized to use ride sharing, should they choose to. For those with ongoing concerns after a first pilot, it can help to suggest that new users are selected through a snowballing process or are to be included on request. Calls for the user group to solely composed of managers should be resisted because it limits the diversity of the user group and potential trip types captured in a pilot, making the data less useful for a future evaluation and decision. Whereever possible, user groups and pilot should be designed to include all those who are likely to use local transportation services.   

Successful deployments to date have been marked with several key criteria:   

Successful deployments to date have been marked with several key criteria:   

3) '''Support from Finance''': The group whose work will be most directly effected by departmental ridesharing is corporate finance and so it is important to speak with these individuals early on. Finance also has the most to benefit.

3) '''Support from Finance''': The group whose work will be most directly effected by departmental ridesharing is corporate finance and so it is important to speak with these individuals early on. Finance also has the most to benefit.

4) '''User Guides''': Hey! Its the GC: we love user guides. Making new user guides can be a laborious process and feel unnecessary for something like Uber, so I've done you a solid and included the TC user guide which can be plagiarized at will ;-D[[File:UBER USER GUIDE (TC).pdf|thumb]]

 

4) '''User Guides''': Hey! Its the GC: we love user guides. Making new user guides can be a laborious process and feel unnecessary for something like Uber, so I've done you a solid and included the TC user guide which can be plagiarized at will ;-D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[File:UBER USER GUIDE (TC).pdf|thumb]]

=== Addressing Concerns about Ridesharing ===

=== Addressing Concerns about Ridesharing ===

There has been some ideological opposition in some quarters to ridesharing as a system, which affords freelance drivers less earnings per ride than taxi drivers. Some have argued that this in unfair for drivers and that the GC cannot be seen as supporting a system that pays drivers less. While especially common in the early days of ridesharing where taxi companies mounted a strong an concerted opposition to ridesharing platforms and lobbied to make the practice illegal, this line of argument less and less common as ridesharing has become more prevalent both in the GC and in wider society. This has come with a growing understanding of what it means to be a freelancing platform. There is also a strong impetus for government to obtain good value for money in its purchases, raising questions about the extent to which public servants should be expected to intentionally overpay for services.   

There has been some ideological opposition in some quarters to ridesharing as a system, which affords freelance drivers less earnings per ride than taxi drivers. Some have argued that this in unfair for drivers and that the GC cannot be seen as supporting a system that pays drivers less. While especially common in the early days of ridesharing where taxi companies mounted a strong an concerted opposition to ridesharing platforms and lobbied to make the practice illegal, this line of argument less and less common as ridesharing has become more prevalent both in the GC and in wider society. This growing prevalence has come with a growing understanding of what it means to be a freelancing platform and how this is distinct from other business models. There is also a strong impetus for government to obtain good value for money in its purchases, raising questions about the extent to which public servants should be expected to intentionally overpay for services.   

The most important observation is that the adoption of departmental ridesharing is not accompanied by the exclusion or elimination of alternatives and no public servants will be required to take a rideshare versus any other form of transportation. Departmental ridesharing is about providing more options to the GC and empowering public servants with all the tools that will help them to do their best work. All departmental rideshare pilots to date have kept legacy systems available in parallel and while some continue to prefer other transportation options and payment systems, there is a steadily growing enthusiasm for departmental ridesharing. It is also important to note that locking in to one system or another tends to stifle innovation and result in lower quality of service.

The most important observation is that the adoption of departmental ridesharing is never accompanied by the exclusion or elimination of alternatives and no public servants will be required to take a rideshare versus any other form of transportation. Departmental ridesharing is about providing more options to the GC and empowering public servants with all the available tools in an effort to help them to do their best work. All departmental rideshare pilots to date have kept legacy systems available in parallel with the adoption of ridesharing as an option, and while some individuials continue to prefer other transportation options and payment systems, there is a steadily growing enthusiasm for departmental ridesharing. It is also important to note that locking in to one system or another tends to stifle innovation and result in lower quality of service.