What is ground transportation?
Ground transportation is integral to everyday life. It’s not just about getting from A to B, it acts as a critical function that ensures businesses can operate optimally across all industries.
Put simply, the definition of ground transportation is ‘transportation that is over land instead of on water or in the air’. In regards to businesses, ground transportation involves one of two things; moving goods or moving employees.
What are the different types of ground transportation?
The different methods of ground transportation are vast. Any form of transporting people or goods without the use of planes or boats is classed as ground transportation, including cars, trains, buses, motorbikes, vans, lorries, trams, cable cars, scooters, bicycles, by foot.
What are the advantages of ground transportation?
1. It’s cost-effective
Keeping expenses low is crucial for any business, especially those that frequently need to move goods or staff. With smaller crews required, better operational efficiency and lower fuel costs, ground transportation is the optimal choice for businesses that are sticking to a budget.
2. It’s more environmentally friendly
Vehicles play a big role in the world’s carbon footprint, but businesses still need to use them to properly function. The good news is that ground transportation provides travel options when flying would be inconvenient — helping to reduce unnecessary carbon emissions. You can reduce your business’s carbon footprint even further by organising staff transportation to account for fewer vehicles on the road.
3. It’s safe
By planning your business trips in advance, you have more control over the comfort and safety of your passengers.
With a ground transportation management solution such as employee transport, you have full visibility of your worker’s journeys to ensure your team can enjoy a safe and relaxing commute. You can see when your staff are being picked up and dropped off, view real-time updates of their journey and even make last-minute amendments to each trip.
4. It’s accessible
With air transportation, you’re often limited to major cities. With ground transportation, however, it’s far easier to deliver goods to their destination and it means that people who live in more remote locations can easily get to where they need to be. Road transport, in particular, is an excellent resource for businesses as it provides the greatest outreach to otherwise inaccessible areas — something that is particularly useful for businesses that deliver locally.
5. It’s reliable
Those who rely solely on public transport for their commute are also at risk of sporadic and unreliable services. Having reliable ground transportation in place ensures that your employees have a service that can get them to the office on time or to external meetings and conferences.
6. It’s convenient
Commuting is often time-consuming and stressful, especially when travelling long distances. Ground transportation combats this by providing services that focus on the needs of you and your employees. Your team can enjoy a direct route to their destination, comfortable seating, and avoid the hustle and bustle of public transportation.
7. It’s tailored to your needs
Not all passengers have the same travel requirements, which means public transport won’t always be the right choice for your employees. By investing in a ground transportation service, however, you can ensure that everyone you need to transport can reach their destination safely and comfortably. Whether you need to get your whole office to a conference or you need a specialised vehicle for employees with mobility issues, you can ensure each and every journey is bespoke to your traveller’s requirements.
8. It’s in the hands of professionals
Possibly the greatest benefit to ground transportation is that you don’t need to organise it all yourself. By making use of ground transport specialists, you can rely on a team of experts who will manage your travel needs by dealing with all the logistics of your trip, liaising with travel management companies and suppliers on your behalf and even tracking your journeys to confirm your employees have safely made it to their drop-off location.
Ground transportation services for businesses
There are many ways that organisations can reap the benefits. Here are just a few of the ground transport solutions available that businesses can invest in to streamline their operations.
Rail solutions
Rail Replacement — A train operating company (TOC) needs to ensure that it can transport its passengers to their destination, even in unforeseen circumstances. Rail replacement services offer a fail-safe to cover emergency train cancellations and provide alternative transport for your passengers.
Passenger First & Last Mile — For those who don’t have easy access to rail services, First & Last Mile helps to simplify journeys. Passengers can book vehicles to collect them from home and drop them off at their departing rail station, then, a second vehicle can collect them from the arriving station and take care of the final leg of the journey.
Managed Taxi Rank Solutions — TOCs can ensure that their taxi ranks are being used exclusively by eligible vehicles. A taxi permit management solution ensures your passengers are using safe, reliable taxis to complete their journeys.
White Docket Management — Streamline the admin that comes with coordinating alternative passenger transport with an easy-to-use online platform that provides full visibility.
Crew Transport & Accommodation — TOCs can provide their crew with transport to and from depots and stations across the UK, as well as accommodation that is selected to ensure all staff can arrive at their shift on time to maximise production hours.
Travel solutions
Delay & Divert Solutions — Implement mass transport and accommodation services when flights are cancelled, delayed or diverted to a different airport. Whether it’s planned diversions or emergency delays, you can ensure the safety and well-being of both crew and passengers.
Passenger Accommodation — Whether it’s one person or hundreds, passenger accommodation services allow businesses to respond quickly to emergencies and ensure their customers are looked after without taking on the administrative and logistical burdens themselves.
Door-to-Door Transfers — Businesses can provide a streamlined, hassle-free travel experience for their customers that picks them up directly from their doorstep and transports them directly to their port, station or airport of choice.
Patient transfer services — From planned appointments to emergency visits, patient transfer services ensure that non-critical patients always have the access they need to seek medical assistance.
Corporate solutions
Employee Transport — As organisations have a duty of care for their employees, ensuring they can safely and efficiently transport their staff to and from events outside the workplace is crucially beneficial.
Event Transport — Whether a business needs to send a handful of employees to an out-of-town conference or they need to secure transportation requirements for hundreds of guests, organising event transport ensures your guests arrive on time and in a vehicle that’s tailored to their needs.
Staff Shuttle Service — Smart managers should always be on the lookout for work perks that can boost morale, attract the right talent and ensure high staff retention. Easing the burden of the daily commute with a staff shuttle service is a surefire way to keep employees happy.
Business Continuity — Every business should ensure they’re protected from the unexpected with a solid business continuity plan. Thankfully, you can outsource the logistics to a specialist to ensure that, in a disaster, operations can keep running smoothly and your people can get to where they need to be without delay.
Onward Travel — Also known as alternate transport, onward travel protects your employees from unforeseen breakdowns by providing recovery and transportation services when a quick-fix solution isn’t available.
Let CMAC take care of your travel for you
CMAC are award-winning ground transportation experts with over a decade of industry experience. With access to over 2.5 million vehicles, we make it simple to move your people safely and efficiently so your business can focus on doing what it does best.
Learn more about CMAC’s full suite of industry-leading ground transportation services.