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RIDESHARE - Employer benefits

Why become a commuter benefits employer? | Employee options | Marketing materials | Resources

• Transportation options to offer employees
• Transportation programs available
• Resources for employees

Why become an employer who offers commuter benefits?

• An employer who provides commuter benefits is recognized as a good community leader and neighbor

  • The award for the Best Workplaces for Commuters is given to employers who offer commuter option programs and meet the National Standard of Excellence criteria. Join other Wisconsin employers in attaining this mark of excellence in environmental leadership.
  • The US Green Building Council (USGBC) provides Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credits for implemented alternate transportation efforts.

• Tax advantages for you and your employees

  • You can save taxes by offering pre-tax commuter benefits to your employees. Money contributed towards commuting costs of your employees is a tax-free benefit to them and a tax-deductible business expense to you, reducing FICA and other payroll taxes.
    • View employer benefit information in the second and third rows of the Commuter Tax Benefits Summary table.

• Healthier and more productive employees

  • Employees who use alternate forms of transportation often arrive at work relaxed, less stressed from traffic congestion, and ready to be productive boosting morale and enhancing the work environment.
  • Employees who bike or walk to work are healthier, reducing health insurance claims and sick leave.

• Save on parking needs

  • The more employees who use alternate transportation modes, the less mass parking is needed. You can reinvest the savings back into the company.

Transportation options to offer employees

• Encourage your employees to visit www.rideshare.wi.gov for quick and easy interactive ride matching. RIDESHARE will match employees within your company and to the entire database.
  • Communicate the www.rideshare.wi.gov link on your intranet site.
  • Communicate the www.rideshare.wi.gov link through employee e-blasts and printed communiqués.
• Provide carpool incentives. Offer discounted, preferred, or free parking spaces for carpoolers.
• Offer a Guaranteed Ride Program. The number one deterrent to commuters using other modes of transportation is the fear of being stranded in case of an emergency or other unplanned event. Employers who offer a guaranteed ride when an unforeseen event occurs can help overcome this barrier. For more information, on how to develop a program that is fair for all employees, contact Karen Schmiechen.
• SE Wisconsin employers can participate in the Emergency Ride Reimbursement program. The state supports alternative transportation options and guaranteed ride programs in urban areas by offering a partial reimbursement to companies for the costs incurred for sending someone home in an emergency. For more information, contact Karen Schmiechen
• Share TransTalk with your employees by inserting it into your company newsletter or post them in the break room. TransTalk is a free newsletter that comes out every two months and provides brief tips on ridesharing, park and ride lots, bike and pedestrian trails, highway construction, transit, and other multi-modal transportation.
  • Sample copy of TransTalk (257 KB)
  • To subscribe to TransTalk, contact Karen Schmiechen
    
    
• Consider parking cash-out. If you are paying or leasing parking from a second party or subsidize urban parking costs for your employees, you can return some of that cost back to the employees who agree to take alternate transportation to work.
• Invite on-site services. A Wisconsin RIDESHARE representative is available to acquaint employees about RIDESHARE services during lunch or break times in a common area. Offer a transportation fair to acquaint your employees with commuting options and opportunities from local transit, bike and pedestrian programs, park and ride lots, and rail travel.
• Investigate the benefits of flexible work options. Employees traveling at times other than peak travel times are less polluting because they are not idling in congested traffic. Tele-working or working four 10-hour days takes vehicles off the road for one or more commuting days a week.
• Encourage bike and/or pedestrian commuting. Employers benefit from having healthier employees who bike or walk to work. Offer secure bike parking areas, showers, and lockers as an incentive.

Marketing materials

Materials to use/distribute to your employees and at your business:

• Brochure - for commuters
  • Program overview
  • Questions and answers (Q&A)
  • Car pool tips
• Brochure - for employers (350 KB)
  • Transportation options to offer employees
  • Transportation programs available
  • Resources for employees
• Poster - You've got nothing to less, except stress
• Poster - Like online dating for your car

Note - Contact us to request these materials in quantity.

Transportation and environmental resources

• Milwaukee County Transit System Programs (MCTS) - Will consult individually with an employer to help determine which of their corporate transit programs best meet the organization's commuting goals.
  (414) 343-1777
• Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air (WPCA) - Become a member of a coalition of more than 260 businesses, community organizations, schools, and government agencies who work in partnership to improve air quality through voluntary action.
  (414) 263-8653
• Public Transit information

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Questions about the content of this page, contact:
Karen Schmiechen, karen.schmiechen@dot.wi.gov
Last modified: January 6, 2012