Why you need a co-pilot when arranging workforce transportation

Workforce logistics can be a tricky game with many moving parts. And one part that can be particularly tricky is workforce transportation. From on-road safety to ensuring taxi association and community buy-in, arranging transport for remote workforces (regardless of size) requires both experience and finesse.

Trying to arrange your own transport through private operators or fly-by-night one-man-bands is the first step to headaches, and can sometimes even lead to on-road unrest from taxi bosses and local drivers. It’s not something to figure out as you go, and having a dedicated, experienced partner as co-pilot when arranging transport types, times and schedules can mean the difference between project success and failure.

Let’s talk safety first

According to an International Labour Organization report “road traffic crashes kill more than 1.35 million people every year, with over 90 per cent of these casualties occurring in low- and middle-income countries”, of which South Africa forms a part. Recent research has also pointed to key concerns related to drinking and driving as well as low seatbelt-wearing rates. Both of these contribute to deaths on our roads.

Ensuring you work with a reputable Service Provider who understands the importance of abiding by our road traffic laws and keeping your workforce safe is paramount. This also applies to things like cellphone use when driving. Imagine the negative consequences if the transport operator you used didn’t’ have the requisite safety protocols in place or hadn’t been properly vetted? The liability sits with you, impacting your workforce as well as project timelines. iLodge individually vets every transport operator, performing vehicle and driver inspections on top of ensuring a reputable track report.

And what about taxi associations and the community?

Let’s say your project is between provinces and you have a remote workforce travelling back and forth from two different sites each week. How do transport permits work? Which taxi association ‘owns’ which territory? Do you have community leader buy-in in both areas? This buy-in is critical for your project’s success, and for projects that affect communities in general (whether long-term or temporary, such as with road or power plant construction).

One of the biggest hurdles for the HIV/AIDS programme the Entabeni Project was that despite some church leaders and community members recognising the importance of health volunteers who formed part of the programme, “many continued to devalue the work of the carers, especially once there was no external organization to support and validate their work”. You need to understand the community landscape and who will aid or hinder your cause.

Although our focus in this article is on how this impacts transport services, it extends to catering and accommodation too. Demonstrating local community support is critical. Research has shown that in community-based projects, one of the biggest caveats (on top of a lack of community buy-in) is that facilitators who work in these communities are often poorly trained and lack the requisite experience to engage community leaders at the right level. With iLodge, this isn’t a problem. We lay the groundwork well in advance of your project start date, driving to locations to chat face-to-face with the community and taxi associations, and leveraging our decades-long relationships to pave the way.