The enthusiasm of Silicon Valley companies for commuter shuttles for their staff has not waned. The past 10 years has seen many of them join the movement. The shuttles offer employees better travel conditions and time savings compared with the hours typically spent in traffic jams. An estimated 8,500 people take company shuttles for their commute in the San Francisco region.

Like Google, Apple, Netflix and Yahoo, the electric car maker, Tesla, decided to start offering this type of mobility service to its staff. The stakes are high for Tesla: the boost in production capacity at its Fremont plant, ahead of the launch of its new model, requires increased staff numbers. The site lacks the necessary additional parking places, so it is urgent to find alternatives for employees coming to work.

Tesla requested help from the Transport On-Demand (TOD) team of Transdev North America and Transamo to devise a pilot shuttle system for September 2017. Transamo provided an expert analysis of the travel demand and proposed the planning and scaling of on-demand services.

This pilot project adds to Transamo’s references as a consultant to organisations such as Transdev, the southern province of New Caledonia and SEMADER in Reunion Island, seeking to improve the commuting conditions of their employees.