Kages raised mobility

Car remains indispensable for thousands of employees

Kages is increasingly using electric cars (here at the Knittelfeld site).

(Bild: Short and Sweet/Leitgeb)

The Styrian hospital company Kages surveyed the mobility behavior of thousands of employees. There are major urban-rural differences, especially when it comes to car use. CO₂ emissions should nevertheless fall. 

More than Andritz, AMS-Osram and AVL-List, even more than Magna at peak times: No company employs as many people in Styria as the hospital company Kages - over 18,000 people.

The commute to and from the hospitals creates a considerable ecological footprint of a good 17,000 tons of CO₂ per year. According to Kages CEO Ulf Drabek, the aim is to reduce this figure by 450 tons: "Kages is pursuing the goal of increasing the proportion of employees who commute to work in an ecologically exemplary manner by five percent." 

Facts

• There are 1839 job tickets (subsidized climate ticket) across Kages. 1583 employees of the LKH University Hospital Graz use a job ticket, which corresponds to 19 percent of the staff. 13 percent of employees use a Jobticket to travel to work at LKH Graz II (West site)
• Throughout Kages, 163 job bikes are used (Kages finances the purchase of the bikes for commuting); 135 of them in Graz. However, 14 employees at the LKH site in Bad Radkersburg also make use of this offer.

In Wagna, 74 percent use the car
This is based on a mobility survey in which 5837 employees took part in the fall (following a pilot project in Murtal the year before). There were clear differences between the central region and the periphery: while only 34 percent of those surveyed drive to the LKH University Hospital Graz individually, 74 percent do so in Wagna! Offers such as a climate ticket paid for by Kages ("Jobticket") or a subsidized bicycle ("Jobrad") are currently used not only, but primarily in Graz.

However, switching to public transport is often easier said than done: 29 percent of all respondents live in reasonable proximity to public transport, but are unable to use it due to unsuitable timetables. Switching to alternative means of transport would extend the journey time by 20 to 30 minutes for a third of car drivers, and 30 to 45 minutes for a quarter.

In Graz in particular (here the South site), the cycling offer is well received.

(Bild: Short and Sweet/Leitgeb)

What the workforce would like to see
A third of those surveyed made their own suggestions for improvement. These often related to possible combinations of subsidies (e.g. job bike for the summer and parking permit for the winter), but also extensions to the cycle path network, an improved parking situation for bicycles, shuttle buses from train stations to the respective LKH and short-term free "sleep-out rooms" directly in the LKH after long shifts were mentioned. 

"As soon as we have systematically evaluated all the suggestions for improvement, we will start with the specific improvement measures," explains Thomas Hofer, Director of Technology and IT. HR Director Thomas Bredenfeldt also promises to further expand activities, particularly in rural regions. Shuttle vehicles are one example.

This is what the parking deck at the hospital in Bruck will look like.

(Bild: Hammerl)

E-cars are available for business trips (such as the "Flying Doctors" commuting from Graz to Deutschlandsberg and the mobile remobilization teams). In future, separate mobility officers will also be appointed for each network. In addition, soil sealing is to be minimized. One example of this is the parking deck currently under construction at Brucker LKH. 180 parking spaces are planned, which can be increased if necessary.