How RideTandem saved NHS staff £100,000 in 6 months
The NHS is one of the UK’s most valuable resources. It’s the second-largest single-payer healthcare system in the world and provides the majority of healthcare services in the UK. Employing over 1.5 million people, over 10,000 buildings, it’s also the country’s largest employer.
UHD (University Hospitals Dorset) Foundation Trust manages 3 hospitals: Poole Hospital, The Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Christchurch Hospital. The Trust takes care of a population of more than 800,000 people in Dorset, Hampshire and South Wiltshire and collectively employs over 10,000 members of staff.
The problem - long commutes and parking costs
Studies show that in 2023/24, health workers in England had to pay £70 million to park at work. NHS sites often don’t have enough car parking spaces to cater for patients, visitors and staff, which adds a stressful financial and practical burden to all.
For NHS teams working across multiple sites and shift patterns, reliable staff transport isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s an essential resource that allows staff to make it to work on time.
For UHD, departmental moves between Poole Hospital and The Royal Bournemouth Hospital meant that many employees faced long, unpredictable commutes, worsened by limited access to public transport, especially for early or late shifts.
When we spoke with UHD, it was clear that a staff shuttle was needed not only to allow staff to move easily between the two sites but also to save staff valuable time and money.
The solution - NHS staff shuttle bus
RideTandem is a smart workplace transport solution. Our technology turns the fleets of vetted local licensed coach, minibus and taxi companies into smart, shared shuttles.
We developed a highly cost-effective NHS staff shuttle bus service, designed to get employees between Poole Hospital and The Royal Bournemouth Hospital, from 6 am to 10 pm, 7 days a week. The route has been optimised for both pre-booked tickets and hop-on tickets to allow maximum flexibility for hospital staff.
Through the RideTandem Employer Dashboard, managers can monitor bookings, live ETAs, and occupancy levels in real time, enabling an accurate view of staff numbers and mobility.
The service currently operates daily with more than 300 trips per week, maintaining high reliability and a Net Promoter score of Excellent.
The results
Time saving
The service we set up for UHD is a continuous NHS bus shuttle that runs from 6:00 am to 22:00 pm every day of the week. This makes the service as accessible as possible for large numbers of staff who are all on different shift patterns, cutting commuting time down by over 50%.
Money saving
The price of public bus tickets for nearby routes is around £3 per trip, with some staff members reporting they’d have to use multiple buses to get to the same destination. The cost of tickets was offset for staff, which meant they paid nothing, saving NHS staff more than £3 per trip. Over the first 6 months of operation, this totals an overall saving of more than £100,000 for NHS staff.
Passenger uptake
More than 55,000 bookings were made in the first 6 months of the service, and passengers gave the service a Net Promoter Score of Excellent. On average, RideTandem transports more than 1,000 NHS staff per day to and from Poole Hospital and The Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
“This bus service has genuinely made my commute to RBH so much easier, it has been a lifesaver! I would either have to take expensive Ubers or sit for 1.5 hours on the M1 bus that goes from RBH to Poole, then catch another bus to my home again. However, the mid-afternoon timings have been so helpful - I can leave RBH and finish up work at Poole Hospital, then get back home with only one bus and slash my commute time by more than half. Can't thank this service enough and very kind, polite drivers as well.” - Passenger feedback
Dynamic and flexible shuttle services
We’re proud to support the NHS and to be able to provide a valuable NHS staff shuttle service that allows staff to travel quickly, easily and affordably to and from work every single day. We hope that in providing this service, we’re helping to improve the daily lives of NHS staff and promoting the importance of accessible travel and mobility for all.
We create bespoke services for a range of organisations across healthcare, education and manufacturing. Our Transport Operations Specialists use their expertise to curate services that work on a business-to-business basis. If you’d like to find out more about how we can support your organisation, speak to the team today.
