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In simple English, the company solves transportation issues for public and private-sector clients (businesses, government organisations, institutions, airports, property developers, special event coordinators, etc) experiencing transportation issues such as parking shortages, traffic congestion, employees or customers who find it hard to access a site, business relocation concerns, and so on.
Vipre has a total staff of around 40, with offices in:
- Dublin, Ireland
- Edinburgh, UK
- London, UK
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
Vipre originally began in the Netherlands - its name stands for Vervoer Industrieel Personeel Regio Eindhoven ("transportation planning solutions for white coller workers in Eindhoven") � and was actually a division of Philips! In 1998, Vipre was bought by an American company called VPSI (who claim to be the world's largest vanpooling company, and were originally a division of Chrysler), which have offices in 25 major American cities, and are appropriately headquartered in "the Motor City" - Detroit, Michigan. As a subsidiary of VPSI, Vipre expanded from the Netherlands into the UK in 1999, and most recently into Ireland in 2003. Combined, VPSI and Vipre have approximately 150 staff worldwide.
In Dubai, my job with Cansult mainly involved Traffic Impact Studies, conceptual road/intersection/interchange/parking/access design, etc � mainly for brand new mega-developments in a rapidly-expanding city. In contrast, Vipre is geared more towards sustainability, efficiency, corporate responsibility, environmental protection, and helping to make the best use of existing infrastructure. Dublin is one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe. For more about Dublin, go to my "About Dublin" page.
Vipre prides itself in not only providing the transportation planning consulting services, but in actually doing something about the recommendations � which, upon approval from the client, often involves setting up an on-site office which implements the policies, then monitors and manages the results.
One of the high-profile projects Vipre undertook was the creation of a Transportation Demand Management plan for London's Heathrow Airport - the world's busiest international airport, with around 70,000 employees, and over 60 million passengers per year! Another high-profile project was done for the Port of Rotterdam, the busiest container port in Europe (and until recently, the busiest in the world!).
To take a look at Vipre�s website, click here. To take a look at its American "parent" company, VPSI, click here.
That�s a little bit about the company. As for my actual job, I'm only two weeks in at the time of writing, so we'll have to see how things evolve, but my understanding is that I'll be working in a consulting position, where I'll go to meet with new or existing clients, understand their issues and goals, then get to work on proposing a plan which could address those problems.
Like any planning work, each unique project would most likely first involve a thorough examination of the client's situation, and collecting as much background information as reasonably possible - such as the number of employees, the number of daily customers, the type of business/neighbourhood/facility (whatever is appropriate)...then taking a look at the surrounding site.
How many parking spaces are available?
How heavy is the traffic during the rush hours...and where does it come from...or where is it going?
For commercial/institutional developments, where do staff/customers/students live?
For a residential development, where are its people employed/educated/entertained?
Where are the nearest bus stops and train stations?
What other future developments are proposed nearby?
What are the neighbouring land uses, and where do they fit into the big picture?
Is it possible to cycle or walk to the site? ...and so on.
After collecting all that kind of stuff, I'd maybe go back to the office and do some research on the web about other groups who were facing similar circumstances, and see how they handled it...and what the results were. Then, after looking at a few appropriate examples, I'd probably pick the best-of-the-best practices, and recommend the ones that would be most applicable in my client's circumstances. I assume the client will also want to know how realistic my recommendations are, and what kind of results they could expect - such as, for example, the approximate number of parking spaces that could be freed-up if a developer's business park implemented a shuttle bus system between their site and a nearby train station...which may just be a little too far to walk on a rainy Dublin morning...and if doing that would be more beneficial to them financially/environmentally than building a new multi-storey car park...or cheaper than paying for upgrades to the surrounding road network.
Each project, of course, will be unique...but the typical procedure I like to follow in any planning project is:
1) Understand the client's issues/goals,
2) Collect background information/data,
3) See what others in their situation have done,
4) Collect more data (if necessary),
5) Recommend the best strategy (based on what worked well for others, and would be most appropriate under the client's unique circumstances).
That's basically it. The interesting thing about urban planning, is that there never seems to be a "right" answer. There are often better answers, but rarely one, perfect answer...which is what makes the job fun. Even if there is a "right" answer, things are always changing anyway - demographics, neighbourhoods, government policies, and the economy - so what works for ten years for one business, in one kind of neighbourhood, in one city...may or may not work again somewhere else. This is what ensures I'll always have a job! Ha!
