Office on Wheels is triple win for corporates, employees and bus companies

Convert your commute into working hours – and spend less time at the office. That is the concept behind Office on Wheels (OoW), a bus converted into office space that has just successfully completed a six-month trial in Belgium. 

The project, set up by bus company association BAAV and the Smart Mobility Expertise Centre at the Antwerp Management School, has already been rolled out for use by two major companies in Belgium – supermarket chain Colruyt and consultants EY. 

The OoW is fitted with individual work stations, has a secure and fast internet connection, and offers plenty of USB connections and power outlets. Participants can both work on the way to and from the office; the time thus spent working can be deducted from their regular office hours. 

Designed to provide an answer to Belgium’s endemic traffic problems, OoW offers employees a novel way to improve their work-life balance and increase job satisfaction. The solution additionally allows employers to reduce their investments in parking space and company cars. A third beneficiary of the OoW concept are bus companies, who have the potential to develop an entirely new market segment – for the trial has shown that the concept has the potential to be profitable. 

Despite the fact that the project has a beneficial effect on greenhouse gas emissions, it would still be too expensive to use a zero-emissions bus to reduce CO2 even more drastically.

The IoW bus will go on tour to promote the concept, to various business areas around Brussels, Leuven and Antwerp. 

Image: Office on Wheels