Transportation

When measuring our emissions around employee travel, we include those emissions produced by employees when commuting to work, driving during work hours and flying for business purposes (in geek speak, this includes 'scope 1 and 3' emissions). The vast majority of our emissions from travel are from employee commuting.

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol states that it's optional to include emissions from employee commuting in your organization's footprint. We include them anyway, because we know that there are things we can do to support our employees to commute via alternative transportation – in other words, not driving alone in a car.

What are we doing to reduce emissions from transportation and travel?

• Locations close to transit
  Where possible, we locate our facilities close to public transit (in fact, our head office is physically built over the Skytrain line).
• Discounted employee transit passes
  We offer our employees discounted transit passes.
• A low CO2 'fleet'
  We provide a MODO vehicle, housed at Vancity Centre, for employees to use for business travel. This Prius hybrid is now located at Vancity Centre for Vancity employees to use to get to meetings and appointments (so they can leave their cars at home).
• Showers, lockers and secure bike storage
  We provide facilities for cyclists at our offices so that they can look and feel great after their cycle commute - we're still figuring out how to help fight 'helmet hair'.
• Guaranteed Ride Home Program
  We cover the cost of the bus or cab ride for employees who commute to work via alternative transportation and then need to travel unexpectedly during the day.
• Online alternative transportation guide
  We've published an online guide which we operate with information about the alternative transportation options available to employees.
• Employee Initiatives
  Every year we participate in a variety of programs such as Commuter Challenge and Bike to Work Week, to remind and encourage our employees to choose sustainable modes of transportation to commute to work and for business travel.
• Employee transportation survey
  Every year, we survey employees to find out how they're getting to work and what makes it hard for them to travel sustainably. We analyze the data and use it to identify new ways to support employees to take alternative transportation.
• Clean Energy Vehicle Matching Rebate Program for Employees
  Up to a $5,000 rebate is available to match the BC Government’s current rebate incentive; combined, this totals a rebate of up to $10,000 for employees!
• Bike share
  3 electric bikes and two cruiser bikes are available at Vancity Centre, available for Employee to sign out for use on any day.
• Employee Cycling Incentive
  Rebates ranging from $100 to $1,000 are available to eligible Employee for the purchase of a new bicycle, e-bike, e-bike conversion kit, or tune-up.
  

How are we doing?

55% of Vancity employees commute to work using alternative transportation, compared to 41% in Metro Vancouver at large.