If you are in the Campbell Heights area of Surrey or know of anyone doing business and working in Campbell Heights, the following transportation information is important, sent to the Surrey Board of Trade by TransLink. This is an option to increase transportation options in the Campbell Heights area, but certainly more needs to be done to increase transit and transportation options for this growing area.
What is Vanpool?
Vanpool is a long-distance commute option for employees headed to the same work site/area and consist of at least four to seven commuters. TransLink first introduced vanpool as a pilot project in partnership with UBC in February 2019. This project is now expanding into a program as part of TransLink’s efforts to provide more commuting options beyond fixed-route (regular) transit services.
How does Vanpool work?
Groups of four to seven employees get together to drive to and from work in a co-operative ride-share vehicle – a sedan or minivan – that is reserved for them during designated commuting times. Outside of those times, the vehicle is available for use by other co-op members.
How does TransLink plan to launch this program in Campbell Heights?
TransLink will be distributing two surveys to interested businesses in the Campbell Heights area:
The ‘employer survey’ will be distributed to businesses in the form of a fillable PDF file. This questionnaire will ask employers approximate information regarding their operations such as address, hours of operation, employee numbers, etc. (estimated completion time = 5 minutes).
The ‘employee survey’ will be conducted online and will be distributed to businesses employees via an email link. This questionnaire will ask employees specific information about where they’re travelling from, their shift times, what transportation mode(s) they currently travel by, whether they would like to be a vanpool driver/passenger or both etc. (estimated completion time = 5 minutes).
When/how will these surveys be sent out to businesses?
The employer survey will be sent via email directly to your organizations designated point of contact in early September 2021.
The employee online survey will be live from Monday, September 27 – Friday, October 15, 2021. The link for this survey will be sent directly to the business point of contact for internal redistribution on Monday September 27.
What are next steps?
We would kindly request each interested business confirm their participation in the vanpool assessment and communicate with TransLink who their organizations point of contact will be. This can be done by simply sending these details to business@translink.ca. The role of the business point of contact will be to both receive and redistribute all communications and marketing materials with their employees on TransLink’s behalf – we recommend a staff member that has complete access to employee communications (HR, administration, etc.).
Towards the end of August TransLink will reach out to each business’s point of contact with a program packet which will include vanpool program materials and a marketing flyer to redistribute among employees. We recommend either attaching the digital flyer within an email or printing it out and displaying it within communal areas to stimulate employee interest in the program. In addition, there will also be two $50 dollar gift card incentives for those employees who complete the survey and opt into the draw. Winners will be picked at random.
If you have any questions, please send them to business@translink.ca.
