News & Events

From Albany Business Review  / By Chelsea Diana, Reporter / December 21, 2022

Tech Valley Shuttle has covered 250,000 driving miles this year, bringing people in transportation deserts to work at businesses desperate for employees with its Driven To Work program.

The program has grown in popularity this year as companies have a harder time finding workers. It's become a critical employee recruitment and retention tool for businesses like FedEx, Walmart, GB Logistics and Six Flags.

The companies let Tech Valley Shuttle know which employees will be using the service and it then coordinates with the employees for pickup times, locations and then drop-offs.

That process will become easier as Tech Valley Shuttle partners with the Schenectady software company Transfinder on an app to ease the process of scheduling, tracking employee pickups and mapping out routes.

"The way we’re currently set up, it's not an on-demand service. Historically, we had people book ahead," said Trent Griffin-Braaf, owner of Tech Valley Shuttle. "Now that we’re into non-emergency medical transportation, it will allow us to operate more on-demand, so now we’ll have pre-book services and on-demand services that will all be capable because of this app."

The partnership will help Tech Valley Shuttle expand its services, as well as help Transfinder tap into a new market.

Transfinder helps school districts determine the best bus routes while tracking fuel consumption, maintenance costs and vehicle replacement. The company, led by CEO Antonio Civitella, has been looking for ways to expand its software beyond school districts.

"We've done a good job with pupil logistics and have been talking about people logistics for a long time," Civitella said. "It gives us the opportunity to expand our capabilities and come up with the best way for the next generation of our products to be a people logistics software company."

Tech Valley Shuttle is using Transfinder’s driver app, Wayfinder, to create routes to pickup points where employees gather to be transported to work. It will also be used to take attendance to help employers qualify for federal commuter tax credits.

Tech Valley Shuttle's Driven To Work program has been operating in Albany, Schenectady and Warren counties, and is expanding into new markets like Hudson, Gloversville and the emerging Route 5S corridor in Montgomery County. One of the company's largest clients relies on Tech Valley Shuttle to bring around 50 employees to work each week.

We've been able to help with recruiting as well as retention for organizations through the Driven To Work program by taking individuals from more populated areas to areas they couldn’t get to before, and vice versa," Griffin-Braaf said. "So it's expanding opportunities."

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