2022 TDM Excellence Awards: Technology & Innovation - RideAmigos
The recipient for the inaugural Excellence Award for Technology & Innovation is RideAmigos. When RideAmigos joined ACT in 2010, TDM professionals were using spreadsheets to match individual carpools, and services like ridematching and vanpooling and transit were siloed so commuters often had to make a choice about which option to pursue.
The company had developed and patented one of the earliest ridematching tools to integrate ridesharing with New York’s black car services starting in 2008 and saw the opportunity to impact TDM on a larger scale. RideAmigos built a TDM-focused multimodal trip planner to empower users to compare ridematching options with other non-SOV modes by cost, time, and environmental impact, as well as health benefits.
Shortly thereafter, RideAmigos partnered with Century City in Los Angeles to launch the first “Virtual TMO platform,” combining a variety of proven TDM strategies including carpool and vanpool, guaranteed ride programs, trip logging and incentives, gamification, and competition. The platform set a new standard for TDM technology that RideAmigos and government agency partners like the DRCOG, Commute.org, Valley Metro, Oregon DOT, South Florida Commuter Services, and more continue to evolve to empower TDM professionals and commuters in a rapidly evolving mobility ecosystem. Rideamigos also led the way with virtual conferences before the pandemic made them the must have event, hosting its annual CommuteCon, providing a unique opportunity for TDM practitioners to gather and learn.
Today, RideAmigos and its partners are using technology to go beyond providing services to empower every organization to plan programs and influence demand on the macro level with advanced behavioral strategies that leverage data collection via mobile and IoT sensors and mobility APIs. RideAmigos partners from DRCOG to WashDOT are setting a new bar for regional and organizational trip reduction planning tools. Organizations like Adobe, LinkedIn, and Netflix are using the RideAmigos Commute Hub to manage massive employee transportation programs that integrate options, benefits and incentives with access management and capacity planning.
Launched this year, the Pave Commute app provides a turnkey, science-based commuter program to employees of any size organization — from the Lost Grove Brewery in Idaho to thousands of employees at LAX; from a Mercedes-Benz production facility in Poland, to small and medium tenants in over 200 commercial buildings in the City of Seattle’s Transportation Management Program. Through RideAmigos Labs, the company continues to advance new applications of technology in TDM including USDOT-funded project to decentralize the market for TDM incentives, GIS-based intermodal route optimization, and real-world behavioral research. Moreover, RideAmigos has been a constant supporter of the industry and ACT.