Commuter Check

Accor Services USA, provider of national commuter benefit programs Commuter Check Benefit Solutions and WiredCommute, applauds President Obama and Congress’ on increasing the monthly cap of the transit/vanpool portion of the transportation fringe benefit to $230.  The increased maximum equalizes the transit and parking portion of the transportation fringe benefit, bringing parity to the financial incentive to take public transportation or drive to and from work.  Click here to read a full copy of the bill HR1511.  

Equal benefit, equal incentive
The transit benefit plays an important role in the way employers can directly impact their employees commuting habits.  Plus, increased participation in commuter benefits increases employers’ payroll tax savings.  With this increase employers can offer employees up to $230 per month in pre-tax parking benefits and up to $230 per month in pre-tax transit/vanpool benefits.  Eliminating the disparity between the monthly caps equalizes the financial incentive to take public transportation or drive to work alone.  The change will save commuters with the longest and most costly commutes more than $1000 per year on average in tax savings.  By creating parity between the transit and parking portions of the commuter benefit, more Americans will be able to take advantage of this program, reduce their commuting costs, and potentially increase the number of commuters who opt to take public transportation, which would result in tremendous environmental benefit for America’s traffic congested cities.  

Public transit use equals smaller carbon footprints
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a single car commuter can save 6,9000 pounds of carbon per year by switching to public transportation, which is equal to recycling one ton of waste instead of putting it into a landfill.  As an example, more than 300,000 people participate in the Commuter Check and WiredCommute programs today.  By the EPA estimate that 1.5 gallons of gas are used per commuter per day, these 300,000 participants save 450,000 gallons of gas every day they take public transit instead of commuting in a single-occupancy vehicle.  In addition, based on an average commute of 100 miles per week per commuter, those 300,000 participants save 9.3 million pounds of hydrocarbons, 69 million pounds of carbon monoxide, 4.5 million pounds of oxides of nitrogen and over 1.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide each year (calculated using the Accor Services USA Emissions Savings Calculator).  This equates to supplying energy for 100,000 households each year.  

Gerard Bridi, President of Accor Services USA said, “I applaud Congress for their action today. The current economy has put even greater stress on families across the country.  This increase in the transit benefit will help commuters manage rising commute expenses and potentially encourage more commuters to choose public transportation, which has great environmental benefits for our country.  As Congress finds ways to create jobs and stimulate the economy, this provision will ensure that Americans have a cost effective way to get to and from those jobs.”