If the City of Boulder, CO can secure a $250,000 federal grant to put Wi-Fi in its 157 Regional Transportation District buses, local company employees could in the future “clock in” while being transported to work. The city and a non-profit group called 36 Commuting Solutions polled local Boulder companies to see if they would be in favor of allowing workers to clock in while on buses. It’s believed the new policy could prompt more people to use public transit to and from work, which would reduce carbon emissions and vehicle congestion.
“The feedback so far has been positive; about 75 percent of the businesses that have our survey request have responded with general support,” Boulder Transportation Planner Cris Jones told BUSRide. “There are some companies that did not feel it would be a good fit for the type of work their employees do, or they had concerns about privacy and confidentiality of information over a public network. But generally, there was pretty broad support initially for the concept.”
Jones says the city will find out by the end of September if the grant will be awarded.
What happens if Boulder obtains the federal funds and the new ‘clock in’ concept takes off?
“I don’t see why the policy proposal couldn’t be replicated elsewhere,” Jones says.