I don't work for a big company. Every morning I take my daughter to daycare before going to work. Although not far from where we live (2 km), I still need to drive in the opposite direction. This means an extra ~20 minutes per morning. That's just the trip. Add to it the lack of parking spaces and rapidly decreasing chance of finding one after a certain time point. Not to mention that I need wake up a 3 year old at an unreasonably early hour for any child... Having an on-site childcare center would make a lot of things more simple and pleasant for my entire family.
Why should the company spend millions a year on a perk you can take advantage of that I can't? And let's not assume you can take advantage of it, given there will be a waiting list.
Why do people want a return to the "company town" model just to save a few minutes?
It does not have to be free. Just being able to bring my child and, later in the day, take then from where I work (or close by) would be as close to perfect as possible. I would happily pay, even 100%, if the company would facilitate an on-site daycare.
In regard to saving "a few minutes", I don't know how you (or other people) feel about it, but I'd happily spend more time with my child.
I have two, but I'm not taking them to my employers childcare. I took them to a good childcare that I picked out competitively. And now they are in school. Company perks shouldn't be enjoyable by only a tiny minority of the company at any one time.
Well that's how all company perks are. Company gyms aren't large enough for literally all their employees to use at once, or even frequently interspaced over a single day.
Apart from coffee machines, and maybe food service... no physical location perk is capable of handling the entire staff.
