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canyonwalkerI wrote yesterday about how my company snuck in an ridiculous change to our travel policy. Even worse than the change they did make is one they reversed after strong pushback from managers who refused to take it to their teams. (Remember, they presented it to managers then asked the managers to tell all us ICs 1:1 to avoid widespread emoji jeering on Zoom all-hands other companies have experienced recently when informing employees of idiotic new policies.) The change they at least had the grace to withdraw was, "Employees shall use public transit as much as possible."
Use public transit?
Okay, sure, when you're commuting to the office, transit works. When you're in a city. When you're in a city that actually has good public transit.
This seems like a policy that was thought up by someone who lives and works in a large European city and only ever visits large European cities. Or, in North America, only goes between New York, Boston, Toronto, and maybe Chicago.
And even in such places, transit only works if you travel around the city center and highly connected areas outside it. Because anywhere else you need a car.
Yeah, there may technically be bus lines, but buses are slow. When you're working, time is literally money. It's not worth taking a bus ride that takes an hour-plus— or even an indirect train line that takes just as long— when Uber or a taxi or a rented car can get you there in 20 minutes.
The company execs who made that sprained decision thankfully rolled it back to, "Employees shall use taxis and ride-hailing services as much as possible rather than renting vehicles." That makes sense. Uber, Lyft, etc. are a lot cheaper than renting a car in many situations.
I recognized the obvious cost-savings of using Uber, Lyft, etc. versus renting a car over 10 years ago. I almost never rent a car on business trips anymore. My travel pattern on business is usually going between the airport and addresses within 10-15 miles of it. Even with a couple rides of 25-30 miles to/from a more remote suburb it still usually adds up to less than the cost of renting a car. Plus there are additional wins. I save the time and time and hassle of picking up and dropping off a rental car, the effort and hassle of driving, and the costs of gas and parking.
As much as all these wins with Uber, Lyft, etc. are obvious to me apparently they're not obvious to all my colleagues. I've heard back-channel that the main reason execs were (over-)focused on reducing ground transport expenses was that too many people were racking up big bills on car rentals.
Renting cars isn't cheap nowadays. Renting them on business days without a big corporate discount (my company has no corp discount) runs upwards of $100/day. And it's probably higher in some other countries. To think that anybody in my line of work would think that's a bright idea is baffling. But maybe old habits die hard for some people.
Use public transit?
Okay, sure, when you're commuting to the office, transit works. When you're in a city. When you're in a city that actually has good public transit.
This seems like a policy that was thought up by someone who lives and works in a large European city and only ever visits large European cities. Or, in North America, only goes between New York, Boston, Toronto, and maybe Chicago.
And even in such places, transit only works if you travel around the city center and highly connected areas outside it. Because anywhere else you need a car.
Yeah, there may technically be bus lines, but buses are slow. When you're working, time is literally money. It's not worth taking a bus ride that takes an hour-plus— or even an indirect train line that takes just as long— when Uber or a taxi or a rented car can get you there in 20 minutes.
The company execs who made that sprained decision thankfully rolled it back to, "Employees shall use taxis and ride-hailing services as much as possible rather than renting vehicles." That makes sense. Uber, Lyft, etc. are a lot cheaper than renting a car in many situations.
I recognized the obvious cost-savings of using Uber, Lyft, etc. versus renting a car over 10 years ago. I almost never rent a car on business trips anymore. My travel pattern on business is usually going between the airport and addresses within 10-15 miles of it. Even with a couple rides of 25-30 miles to/from a more remote suburb it still usually adds up to less than the cost of renting a car. Plus there are additional wins. I save the time and time and hassle of picking up and dropping off a rental car, the effort and hassle of driving, and the costs of gas and parking.
As much as all these wins with Uber, Lyft, etc. are obvious to me apparently they're not obvious to all my colleagues. I've heard back-channel that the main reason execs were (over-)focused on reducing ground transport expenses was that too many people were racking up big bills on car rentals.
Renting cars isn't cheap nowadays. Renting them on business days without a big corporate discount (my company has no corp discount) runs upwards of $100/day. And it's probably higher in some other countries. To think that anybody in my line of work would think that's a bright idea is baffling. But maybe old habits die hard for some people.
