Oracle Ireland had a problem. With almost 900 staff in four office blocks in the East Point business park near Dublin Port and just 338 parking spaces, and with no direct bus service from the city centre, how were its employees going to get to work?
Taking a lead from its European headquarters in Reading, the company brought in Vipre, consultants in "mobility management", and the result is today's official opening of what is claimed to be the first full-service employee commuter centre in Ireland.
A commuter centre is a one-stop-shop for all employee transportation requirements. The primary objective is to assist staff in getting to and from work, with the spin-off benefits of easing congestion, reducing pollution and reducing parking requirements.
Oracle's new centre provides a contact point for all commuter travel information, with the aim of encouraging employees to use greener methods of travelling to and from work as well as organising car-pooling and "ride-matching".
Accessible on-line to all company staff, the centre provides up-to-date information on public transport and even sells Dublin Bus and DART commuter tickets (including ID cards, thus saving a trek to O'Connell Street) as well as negotiating bicycle discounts.
According to Mr Ian McConnell, Oracle Ireland's director of human resources, it was born out of a recognition that the issue of commuting and traffic congestion is not just an area for government agencies, but one in which employers must also play their part.
Research carried out in May last year found that more than 37 per cent of staff drove to work alone, 42 per cent considered the lack of direct bus routes the main deterrent to using public transport and 37 per cent complained about the lack of safe cycle routes.
One of the first tasks undertaken by Vipre's Mr Billy O'Keeffe was to map where employees lived, so that near-neighbours could avail of car-pooling or "ride-matching" - the term for potential car-poolers who may not know each other or realise they live nearby.
Oracle now has almost 400 employees registered for car-pooling while 220 are already involved in 69 active car-pools. In return, they benefit from priority parking outside their workplace, as well as savings in travel costs and reduced commuting stress. Another innovation is to provide six free bicycles for use by company staff travelling within the business park or to surrounding areas. Apart from providing an easy way to get around, this is also intended to get them to think about cycling to work.
Asked about the fact that all bicycle parking spaces at East Point are to the rear of buildings, while cars occupy the prime spaces in front, Mr O'Keeffe said this was a matter for the management company: "A lot of this is about trying to change the mind-set."
Public transport connections are also poor. Even though there are more than 5,000 people working in East Point, the only bus service is a shuttle to Clontarf Road DART station, which staff find unreliable because not all DART trains stop there. This problem can only be relieved if a third or middle track is installed to facilitate mainline train services to and from Connolly station, including the Belfast Enterprise express.
Oracle plans to get together with other companies at East Point including NTL, Lufthansa, Sun Microsystems, Kindle and AOL, to use their collective corporate muscle to press for better public transport and cycling facilities for the still-growing workforce there.
