With Commuter Choice, employers and communities across the country are turning commuting challenges into significant opportunities where everyone benefits.

Impacts on Businesses

• Less stressful commute, which positively affects employee retention
• Improved access to new labor markets and increased ability to recruit new employees
• Less employee turnover
• Reduced land and facility costs due to the decrease demand and need for parking facilities

Impacts on Communities

• Improved air quality due to the decreased vehicle travel and traffic congestion
• Future economic development opportunities due to the ability to attract new jobs

Financial and tax incentives for employer participation in the Commuter Choice program include:

Employer-paid transportation benefits enable the employer to pay for their employees to commute by transit or vanpool, up to a limit of $100/month. With this arrangement, employees get up to $100 in a tax-free transportation benefit. Employers get a tax deduction for the expense.

Employee-paid pre-tax transportation benefits allow employees to elect to exchange up to $100/month in taxable salary for a tax-free transit or vanpool benefit. This saves the employer money overall since the amount exchanged is not subject to payroll taxes.

Shared transportation cost benefits permit employers to share the cost of transit or vanpool costs with employees providing the employer with the ability to impart a portion of the cost of taking transit or vanpooling as a tax-free benefit and allow the employee to exchange taxable salary for a tax free transit or vanpool benefit (up to the specified limits).

Parking cash-out permits the employee the option to 'cash out' of their existing parking space to receive a tax-free transportation benefit to pay for transit or vanpooling. These cash-out programs often work best for employers that pay separately for parking and for organizations with parking shortages or plans to expand parking facilities.

Valuable resources are available locally and nationally to help employers implement and improve commute programs.

Visit www.CommuterChoice.com to learn more.