TMC forms advisory board for Mobility iQ app

The Miles Consultancy (TMC) has established a panel of industry leaders and decision makers within the fleet and travel sector to assist in the development its new Mobility iQ platform.

Mobility iQ will look to address the fragmented and de-centralised mobility ecosystem through the creation of a smart and sustainable mobility super-app.

TMC’s Development Hub Advisory Board (DHAB) will come together regularly to discuss trends and topics, exchange ideas and define a common set of requirements for the new product.

The first meeting of the DHAB brought together members to take part in an interactive session and participate with a number of polls relating to travel and transport spend to gather further research as part of the Mobility iQ development process.

The first poll asked DHAB members what their daily priority was within their role in the business. Reducing costs and increasing productivity received votes, but decarbonising fleets and travel policies was the most popular answer with a 54% majority.

TMC asked members about their travel spend and more than a third said that between 60-80% is booked via their corporate booking tool, another third said between 80-90% and 8% said 90% and above. Less than a quarter (23%) confirmed that only 50% and less was via their corporate booking tool.

The same question was asked of their business’ ground transport. Two thirds admitted that 30% or less is booked using their corporate booking tool, 17% voted for 30-50% of overall ground transport while 17% said 60% and above.

The board was also asked if they had a minimum business mileage threshold for an employee to be eligible for a company car. Here, 57% said between 5,001 and 10,000 miles would be their minimum threshold, while the remainder of the group were split at 14% each evenly between 2,500 and 5,000, 10,001 and 15,000 and 15,000+ miles.

The final poll of the board meeting concerned the decision maker when it comes to travel and ultimately, who makes the call. Some 83% said that it was the decision of the employee themselves when it comes to travelling from A to B either for their commute or business mileage. The remaining 17% said it was the decision of the line manager and there were no votes for the business.

TMC said the results showed that there is room for improvement within many fleets, with there being such low percentages of ground transport spend going through a corporate booking tool and low mileage thresholds for company car eligibility, alongside the fact that the majority of travel decision making is being made by the employee themselves.

Stuart Donnelly, president Mobility at The Miles Consultancy, said: “Even with such a high priority on reducing carbon, the biggest challenge facing travel managers with such low percentages of ground spend being bookable via the corporate booking tool, despite the rest of travel having high levels of compliance and the majority of employees deciding how they move from A to B, is that it’s near impossible to steer employees at point of search/sale to use preferred modes and suppliers for each journey they take.”