Employees report increased productivity and reduced stress, thanks to The Connector. The free Microsoft bus service is poised for expansion.
By Fred Albert, January 24, 2008

It used to take Bryan Rutberg anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes to drive from his Seattle home to Microsoft’s Redmond campus. Unfortunately, the drive home was much less predictable, occasionally stretching to two hours due to the daily backups on Highway 520. “It drove me crazy and sent my blood pressure skyrocketing,” said Rutberg, director of the Redmond Executive Briefing Center. It got to the point where he stopped drinking water after 2 p.m., for fear of being trapped in traffic when nature called.

Three or four times a week now, Rutberg leaves his Saturn LS2 at home and commutes via The Connector, the free, WiFi-equipped bus service that Microsoft introduced to much fanfare last September. The Connector picks Rutberg up one and a half blocks from his home on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill and deposits him at the Overlake Transit Center bordering the Microsoft campus, where a shuttle transports him to his office.

“I get to work on the computer or do the crossword puzzle or surf the net, none of which you can do if you’re driving,” Rutberg said. He estimates the commute now takes about an hour each way – faster than the city bus and generally faster than driving — and certainly more predictable.

Microsoft launched The Connector in response to employee grievances about traffic and parking and a general perception that public transit was not serving the company’s population as well as it could. “Our employees had to take two or three buses to get to work,” said Susan Wagner, director of Americas Facilities and Services, which launched The Connector. By starting its own service, the company felt it could save employees time and make the commute more productive.

Alan Amerault, a media specialist in the Digital Advertising Solutions Group, listens to music or news on The Connector, and sometimes uses the time to check e-mail. “I love it. It’s comfortable, the staff is nice – it’s a nice way to get to work,” said Amerault, who was able to cut his daily travel time by anywhere from a third to a half.

When Alex Darrow relocated from San Francisco to Seattle last fall to take a job with Microsoft, he was eager to give up his 90-mile commute to and from Silicon Valley. He and his wife mapped out all The Connector’s stops before renting an apartment a block from the one atop Queen Anne Hill. Although the product designer’s commute is now less than 30 miles round-trip, it still takes nearly as long as the old one. (“The traffic is much worse than I expected,” Darrow confided.) Still, he said, it seems shorter, and the ability to use e-mail makes it much more productive. “By the time I get into work I already feel like I’ve accomplished a lot,” he said.

Currently, The Connector runs 14 buses servicing five different routes: two in Seattle and three in the eastern suburbs surrounding Redmond. Routes were selected based on the concentration of employees in each area and the proximity to time-saving HOV lanes. Each bus makes no more than three stops; passengers reserve their seats online.

While that’s just a fraction of the more than 36,000 FTEs working in Redmond, Wagner is not discouraged. “We’re hoping to increase participation a bit more, but overall, that’s still good participation,” she said. Some potential riders may be avoiding the system, Wagner acknowledged, due to a lingering perception left over from The Connector’s launch that the buses are full and it’s impossible to get a seat.

Riders say they often hear from colleagues who would like to take The Connector, but the buses don’t serve their neighborhood. Microsoft is trying to address that problem. In April, it will roll out 10 more routes: four in Seattle and six in the eastern suburbs. Since the latter are more spread out, parking areas have to be leased near those stops, adding to the cost and complexity of the service. The exact routes will be announced in the next two months.

Aside from the civic value of The Connector and the benefit to employees, Microsoft hopes to use the program to offset its carbon footprint. Whether it can is still under investigation. Traditionally, employee travel to and from work is not considered in such calculations. But that won’t affect the company’s support for the program.

“Getting all those single-occupancy vehicles off the road is something that I think any corporation should encourage,” said Wagner.