Employees on staggered hours: who takes them home when everything is closed?
In Lyon, the last metro leaves before midnight and the first arrives after 5 a.m. Between the two, thousands of employees — catering, healthcare, logistics, industry, hospitality — finish or start work. Here is how companies organise these journeys, and why the issue goes beyond simple comfort.
Published on September 22, 2026 · Updated on September 30, 2026 · By Khaled Aggoune, founder of ONLY VTC — private-hire driver in Lyon since 2016, assistance missions on the A43/A46 corridor
A kitchen closing at 11:30 p.m., a night team starting at 9:45 p.m., a warehouse opening at 4:45 a.m.: for these hours, Lyon's public transport simply does not offer a complete solution. That leaves a personal car (if you have one), a two-wheeler in all weathers, or walks nobody should make alone at 2 a.m.
For employers, it is not just a question of comfort: recruitment difficulties for night positions, late shift starts, fatigue at the wheel after a shift — and a moral, sometimes contractual, responsibility for getting teams home. Several collective agreements (notably in hospitality and catering) actually regulate employees' return after public transport has closed.
What companies put in place
- The one-off on-demand journey : the assistant or manager books from the business portal when an employee finishes unusually late — the ride goes on the monthly invoice, and the employee pays nothing upfront.
- The regular night route : for a fixed team, a recurring ride is set up once (same passengers, same time) and generated automatically each working day — exactly how it works is described in our article on getting temporary staff to site.
- Grouping in a van : when several employees live in nearby areas, a 7-seat van replaces three cars — the cost per person becomes very reasonable.
Night journeys in our activity
Our Transport observatory publishes the share of ONLY VTC rides with pick-up scheduled between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., Paris time. This rate describes the platform's sample; it does not demonstrate continuous 24/7 coverage. For a night team, agree times, meeting points and availability in advance.
In practice for the employee: they receive an SMS with the driver's name, vehicle and time; they can follow the car's arrival in real time; and they get into a vehicle whose driver is known to the company — professional VTC card and insurance continuously verified by the platform. For a night-time return, this traceability reassures both employee and employer.
What it costs and who pays for what
The price of each journey is fixed and known in advance — no surprise night surcharge, no dynamic pricing. On a regular route, the rate is negotiated at setup. The company centralises everything on its account: a single monthly invoice, breakdown by cost centre (by department or site), accounting exports. The employee never pays anything upfront.
For tax purposes, an employer covering home-to-work transport when working hours rule out public transport benefits from a favourable framework — your accountant will confirm the terms applicable to your case. Our role: to make the arrangement simple to run. Full details of the business account are on our page Business.
ONLY VTC has been transporting night and staggered-hours teams for Lyon companies since 2016: one-off journeys or regular routes according to agreed availability. Contact: contact@onlyvtc.fr or 06 67 25 84 26.