Making transportation seamless and efficient with the power of data and AI at Microsoft

It’s full speed ahead for the future of transportation at Microsoft.

Five years ago, as a global pandemic shut down offices and commuting ground to a halt, Microsoft took the opportunity to overhaul the technology underpinning its transportation services. The result was a more modernized and integrated system that employees enjoyed as they resumed work at our Puget Sound-based global headquarters.

“Figuring out their commute should not be a pain point for employees. We’re harnessing our advanced technology and the power of AI to do the heavy lifting, so they don’t have to struggle to figure out how they’ll get to work.”

Garima Gaurav, senior product manager, Microsoft Digital

Today, with flexible work schedules the norm, the investment in these technologies—including improved UIs for employee-facing tools, better data handling and collection on the backend, and a more seamless experience—has paid dividends in terms of flexibility and efficiency.

As rates of in-office attendance creep up, our Commute Services group can quickly adjust and stay on top of demand, leaving us better positioned to meet our company’s ambitious sustainability goals.

And now, we’re embracing the Microsoft vision of an AI-powered future by adding agentic, predictive capabilities to our commuting tools, which makes booking a shuttle, Connector bus, or other transportation option fast and easy for our workers.

“Figuring out their commute should not be a pain point for employees,” says Garima Gaurav, a senior product manager in Microsoft Digital, the company’s IT organization. “We’re harnessing our advanced technology and the power of AI to do the heavy lifting, so they don’t have to struggle to figure out how they’ll get to work or to a meeting in a different building.”

Upgrading the transportation experience

We’ve always had clear goals for the type of transportation program we wanted to bring to our employees.

“The first thing we think about is the rider experience,” says Esther Christoffersen, a senior manager with Puget Sound Commute Operations. “We want to deliver an experience that is centered around ease, flexibility, and choice. We start with the physical world, the environment that we live and work in, and then we think about the digital world that employees interface with.”

But our technology systems didn’t always make it easy to accomplish those goals. So we undertook the overhaul of our commute tools, implementing a modern UI that was more consistent with other Microsoft workplace applications. At the same time, this work allowed our engineers to transform the back-end management of our transportation system, using Microsoft Azure to give them better visibility and clearer ownership of operating data.

Better data and tools meant empowering riders with mobility features like a trip-planning function, push notifications, real-time ETAs, and live vehicle map tracking for our shuttle and Connector bus services.

“We had to think about what really matters,” Gaurav says. “That meant building something modern, real-time, and fast for riders. But we also wanted operational agility for the Commute Services team.”

Getting there with the help of an AI agent

With the right technology in place, these tools are ready for agentic AI—and it’s here. While they can still use our internal desktop or mobile platforms to book a ride to work or a different campus location, employees can now also opt for the Employee Self-Service (ESS) agent we’ve developed.

Jessie Go, a technical program manager in the Real Estate and Facilities group, emphasizes the fluid, end-to-end experience that this AI agent can provide to commuters.

“If I’m a new employee, I want to know my commute options,” Go says. “I go into ESS and ask, ‘What are my options to get to campus?’ The agent gives me a list of commuter choices, and one is the Connector bus. I then ask it to help me book a Connector; the agent pulls up a booking tool and I schedule my Connector ride. It’s so much simpler.”

“The ESS tool is kind of a one-stop-shop Copilot agent, aimed at helping our people with all of their work tasks.”

Becky West, principal group product manager, Microsoft Digital

ESS not only offers a user-friendly Copilot Chat interface, but also the potential to understand the rider’s transportation history and preferences.

“It allows users to have a more contextual, conversational experience,” says Ram Kuppaswamy, a principal software engineering manager in Microsoft Digital. “They can just say, ‘Book me a connector,’ and the agent can suggest options based on their previous ride history. It also offers one-click booking, which is used in 40% of all bookings today. It saves users a ton of time, and they really love it.”

It’s all part of making routine tasks frictionless and more efficient for Microsoft employees.

“We’re bringing the experience right to where the employees live, in the AI chat interface,” Gaurav says. “This way they can get all the information they need in one place, rather than 10 different places.”

Of course, ESS can do more than just help with transportation needs—it’s been rolled out company-wide, with the ability to answer employee questions and solve problems relating to anything from their benefits to IT issues to dining options.

“The ESS tool is kind of a one-stop-shop Copilot agent, aimed at helping our people with all of their work tasks,” says Becky West, a principal group product manager in Microsoft Digital. “In the Real Estate space, that might be help with booking a shuttle or seeing what’s for lunch in the cafeteria. In other areas, it might be getting assistance with questions about vacation policy, or what’s wrong with their computer.”

Keeping sustainable transportation top-of-mind

At Microsoft, we take sustainability seriously. Our transportation program is a key component of that effort.

“We offer shared transportation to employees to reduce single-occupancy vehicles on the road, and we’re transitioning our fleet to electric vehicles,” Christoffersen says. “It’s part of our corporate commitment to be carbon negative by 2030.”

“Our global headquarters in Redmond is the size of a small city, with transportation services that help employees get to, from, and around our campus. We continuously look at the data so that we balance the rider experience with running an efficient operation.”

Esther Christoffersen, senior manager, Puget Sound Commute Operations

Microsoft provides electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at many Puget Sound campus locations for employee use. We also offer transit passes, guaranteed rides home, and other rideshare options, giving commuters maximum flexibility.

The easier it is to access these services, the more single-occupancy vehicles we can remove from the region’s roads, which means less air pollution and traffic congestion for everyone.

Because Microsoft is one of the largest employers in the state of Washington, these efforts can make a real difference.

“Our global headquarters in Redmond is the size of a small city, with transportation services that help employees get to, from, and around our campus,” Christoffersen says. “We continuously look at the data so that we balance the rider experience with running an efficient operation.”

Looking toward the future

As AI-powered tools like the Employee Self-Service agent get even better and more broadly used across the company, our transportation services will continue to improve. We hope these services will eventually be available in other regions as well.

“The overall goal is to expand the discoverability of commute information to our workers around the globe,” Gaurav says. “So, whether an employee is in Silicon Valley, India, or somewhere else, they will be able to ask the AI tool for transportation options where they are located and get assistance. It’s a work in progress for us.”