Commuter Plan for Linth Municipal Hospital

The region of Lake Zurich-Linth is aiming to encourage its residents to select climate-friendly forms of transportation. One of its ideas is to change commuter behavior by offering attractive new commuter plans. Several fields of actions for regional mobility management were identified, including in-company commuter plans. In 2013, the Linth Municipal Hospital agreed to take part in a corresponding pilot project and also committed itself to shouldering the associated planning costs. The process involved the following steps

• Analyzing the current supply of and demand for commuter options
• Developing and evaluating the results of an employee survey
• Securing an acceptable level of participation
• Drafting a measures catalog to meet the hospital’s specific needs

The Enterprise: "Linth Municipal Hospital"

With around 500 employees, the Linth Municipal Hospital provides a full range of medical services to the region’s more than 63,000 inhabitants. In 2015, the hospital provided inpatient care to 6,320 individuals, accounting for a total of 36,350 care days. As a result of major renovation measures begun in 2017, the hospital’s already limited parking was reduced even further.

Employee survey

In the context of providing a basis for a new commuter plan, EBP organized an online survey to assess the transportation needs of the hospital’s employees and their perception of the existing alternatives. The survey questions were geared to eliciting information relating to means of transportation, work modalities (e.g. standard work hours versus shift work), commuter routes and other factors. This enabled EBP to draft a catalog of suitable measures.

Participatory Process

The participation of the various stakeholders in the planning process is an important means of establishing effective commuter plans in enterprises. A workgroup was formed at the Linth Municipal Hospital to provide important information on the specific needs of the employees and to reinforce the basis for selecting measures. Particular attention was paid to making sure that the various professionals (physicians, nurses, administrators, etc.) were represented by at least one person in the workgroup.

Selection of Measures and Implementation

A broad catalog of 27 possible measures was compiled to provide a basis for discussions. These related to various topics relevant to hospitals, including communications, information, public transportation, private motor vehicles and pedestrian and bicycle traffic. In the context of selecting measures, the workgroup took account of the specific circumstances of hospital employees (e.g. shift work and irregular work times). Implementation began with the construction of roofed bicycle parking stations. A further 13 measures are to be implemented on the basis of the drafted implementation plan in the coming years.