Earlier this month, we hosted our second Commute+ Reimagined webinar, discussing alternative commuting modes and their roles in post-COVID commute management.

When you think of marketing, the first thing that comes to mind is trying to gain awareness of your product or service. Usually it’s to an external audience you want to buy something. There’s also internal marketing, where you get your employees to buy into products and services you offer them.

At TransitScreen, our focus has always been on lowering the number of drive-alone commutes — whether that's through public transit, biking, carpooling, or any myriad option. With the onset of COVID-19, however, commutes have been completely disrupted (to the point where many of us are simply traveling from our beds to our couches).

As offices begin to reopen and employees begin commuting once more, concern over increased drive-alone rates is rampant. Many employers can't afford to add more parking (or simply don't want to), but employees may not initially feel safe on the subway or bus. We're incorporating real-time parking into our CityMotion mobile app to support your commute management program through this challenging time, while continuing to provide information to push your employees toward sustainable options.

Transit, infrastructure, and policies are constantly changing. That also goes for transportation demand management, especially in the current commuting climate. Employees aren’t commuting in the same way – if at all – right now, and city infrastructure is changing to keep up.

The greater Boston area (and Massachusetts as a whole) is in the beginning stages of lifting quarantine orders and reopening. As of now, general office spaces will be allowed to open.. While it’s up to companies and organizations to set their own return-to-work orders, some form of commuting will resume.

As cities begin to roll back quarantine orders, employers have begun thinking about how they’re going to have their employees return to the office. This is no easy task! There are so many factors that go into safely having any number of employees return to the office, from how they’re going to get there to how you’re going to rearrange the physical office setup.

Companies have recently begun putting their return-to-work plans together for when quarantine restrictions are lifted. That means figuring out how employees are going to commute, how many employees will be coming back right away, and which resources will be needed to make the return as smooth as possible.