Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a great conversation with Ryan McManus. Ryan is a mobility entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of SHARE Mobility, a technology company based in Columbus, Ohio that helps organisations solve complex transportation problems with mobility-as-a-service. I last spoke with Ryan in 2020 so it was great to catch up on what he has been up to since then. Ryan begins by telling us about his background in mobility and current work in mobility-as-a-service, what a Smart Community means to him, and we catch up on what Ryan has been up to since we last spoke in 2020. Ryan then tells us about the changes he has seen in the mobility-as-a-service space due to the pandemic, he discusses the benefits to shared mobility and also how shared mobility can unlock the employment market. Ryan then takes us through the journey he has been on with his company SHARE Mobility. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of companies offering commuter benefits and mandating commuter policies. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! 

Listen here: 

What we cover in this episode:

• Ryan’s background in mobility and current work in mobility-as-a-service
• What a Smart Community means to Ryan 
• What Ryan has been up to since last being on the podcast in 2020
• The changes Ryan has seen in the mobility as a service space due to the pandemic 
• The benefits for customers using shared mobility
• How shared mobility can unlock the employment market
• The journey Ryan has been on with his company Share 
• The emerging trends of companies offering commuter benefits and mandating commuter policies 

Quotes: 

“We built a mobility-as-a-service business around this concept of smart commuting. And the pandemic was a really interesting period for us, as you know, a lot of people ask the question of, is anyone going to share rides again, and we had to literally rebuild our entire business.”

“I think Smart Communities is a really ambitious long term vision, that on a day to day basis can be very hard to see the change. But I can look back to what’s happened here in Columbus over the last five or six years since Smart Cities came about, and what I see is a lasting impact.”

“What I’m trying to do now is get HR departments to understand that taking a role in your employees commute is a really important benefit that has direct impact on the bottom line of the company. But it’s also really good for the employees, because they’re going to keep more of what they earn. And it’s a huge competitive advantage in this really, really competitive job market that’s not going away. And I think HR and human resources departments are the key to unlocking mobility.”

“People change jobs more frequently than they change cars. And if we can get into the new hire packet of companies and influence the decision people are making about how they’re commuting when they’re taking that job, I think we can accelerate the shift to shared mobility. And so being able to unlock companies has been good not just for our growth, but I think it’s the key to unlocking this market for mobility and making mobility-as-a-service sustainable.”

“The commute is a very individual decision. And everybody’s got to figure out how to do it on their own. But we see huge benefits to human resources providing the option or providing the best option for their employees to commute. And one of the things that does is it increases the number of people that you can hire.”

“The big shift that I’ve had is that I’m not trying to change someone’s behaviour anymore. In getting them to give up a car to take a trip and share. And it’s not that we don’t have people that do that. It’s that, that’s a much harder thing to do. And there’s a lot of forces against that. And so why struggle when there are so many people today that just don’t even have transportation. And so the big shift is that we’re focused on bringing mobility to people that don’t have it today, versus converting that.”

“I think fleets are getting left behind in this electrification shift. And as important as fleets are going to be, there isn’t a pipeline of the next generation fleet vehicles that are being electrified. And I’m really concerned about the supply shortages of lithium and batteries and the company is not planning to make as many vehicles that could be needed.”

Links: 

Episode 164 with Ryan McManus 

SHARE Mobility Website

Connect:

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 

Connect with Ryan via LinkedIn or sharemobility.com 

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community  

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital