CommuterPageBlog

Baby Steps towards a Carpool Commuter Benefit?

I rather enjoy riding Metro to work. In fact, I have centered my search for housing based upon the proximity to the train. However, there was a time in my life that I was known to carpool a few days a week. If you aren't the driver, carpooling gives you the same benefits that transit does. Hopefully, if you are the driver, you are able to cut your costs of the commute by splitting it amongst those you drive safely and efficiently to end destinations. Your employer may even provide a preferred parking space for you.

Commuter Connections is thinking about taking carpool benefits one step further by PAYING YOU to carpool - that's right - $2/day. The pilot program will last 3 months. After all, if a program like this can be successful in cities like Atlanta and Los Angeles, surely it can succeed in the DC region as well. Stay Tuned!

Wendy Duren is a Business Development Manager at Arlington Transportation Partners, and commutes with Metrorail daily.

Taking Full Advantage

As a Commuterpage.com blog reader, you take advantage of commuting information, but do your employers or property manager? Do they offer you a transit benefit? It never ceases to amaze me when I contact a prospective client about offering transit benefits to their employees and their response is that it wouldn't be fair to their employees who drive alone. After all, they don't give their drive-alones money for gas or car insurance. This is my golden opportunity to introduce someone to the Transit Demand Management industry and the benefits. 

At Arlington Transportation Partners, we work with employers and residential communities to make travel and commuting more enjoyable and less stressful. This month, we are hosting a Transit Benefit Seminar for Arlington County employers and property owners/managers about implementing a transit benefit.

If you are a resident of an Arlington community or an employee of an Arlington company make sure you are taking full advantage of all the area has to offer. Send your property and/or benefits manager to our seminar!

Breakfast Club Transit Benefits Seminar
Thursday, June 25, 2009
9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
The DHS Building
3033 Wilson Boulevard, Room 7B
Arlington, Virginia 22201

Please RSVP by Monday, June 22, 2009 to cheryl.oconnor@transpartners.com or 703-247-9295

See you there!

Wendy Duren is a Business Development Manager at Arlington Transportation Partners, and commutes with Metrorail daily.

Let's Split It!

How often do you hear that these days? Arlington Transportation Partners is joining the frugal bandwagon with their Spring Let's Split It program. If your organization is interested in helping convince employees to get out of their single occupancy vehicles more often, you might qualify.

Of course, there are the normal inherent savings that come from buying less gas, changing your car insurance to non-commute status and the regular maintenance fees that you can forgo by driving less. But this program is about saving companies money that offer a new or expanded direct-benefit (IRC 132(f)) Participating organizations could receive up to 50% reimbursement for their subsidies. To see if your company qualifies, or to learn more, contact Arlington Transportation Partners at 703-247-9299 and get started!

Wendy Duren is a Business Development Manager at Arlington Transportation Partners, and commutes with Metrorail daily.

April Cycling Classes Ride On

The cold weather has finally broke and now it's an ideal season to ride your bike. If it's been a while since you were last on your bike or you'd like to brush up on your knowledge on riding safely, this is your golden opportunity. BikeArlington and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association are offering two FREE beginner adult bicycle safety classes in April.

Confident City Cycling 1 is a classroom-only event. Participants will be provided with a written curriculum and will be taught bicycle selection and fit, gearing, nutrition and hydration, use of accessories, bike handling, hazard avoidance, traffic law, and simple bike maintenance. Whether weeknights or weekends are better timed for you, we've got both.

On Tuesday, April 7 from 6 - 9 pm at the Lee Community Center and Saturday, April 18 from 1 - 4 pm at the Shirlington Library, Confident City Cycling 1 will be offered. Registration is limited, so sign-up before the classes fill-up.

For more information on the free classes and to register, visit BikeArlington.com.

Paul DeMaio, BikeArlington

Equality At Last

As we all wait anxiously at our mailboxes for our next round of stimulus checks to come to the rescue (don't forget to SPEND it this time) I have been informed of another reason why I should like this bill. For the first time pre-tax transportation benefits, transit and vanpool are on equal playing fields with those who drive to work and park.

Being new to the region, one of the things I was looking forward to was living in a city that had decent transit and trains. Soon I realized that due to my attraction to transit I also needed to add value to my Smarttrip card constantly and when does someone really have time for those lines? I'm still trying to figure out if I can purchase fares online without purchasing a fare card and have it load the next time I approach a vending machine - but I digress. Back to the new bill.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment ACT of 2009 will provide a bundle of savings and unprecedented tax savings for transit and vanpool riders. The new stimulus bill, signed into law on February 17 by President Obama, included a provision that will increase the monthly pre-tax transit and vanpool benefit amount allowable to employees by their employers. As of February 17, 2009, employers can provide employees with up to $230 in pre-tax dollars for transit and vanpool use to and from the work site. For those of you who don't know, the new act nearly doubles the tax-free transit and vanpool benefit amount from January 1, 2009 which set the limit at $120. This is good for me since my current commute is over the $120 monthly limit.

Of course, the new bill is not going to entice everyone to leave their cars at home and start using transit or vanpooling, nor would I want to share MY train with all of those new riders, but it's more about making it a comparable alternative. The new provision is set to expire on January 1, 2011, but like most things approved by Congress, once the people get it, it's hard to take away. It is expected that Congress will make the increase permanent. If your companies offer pre-tax benefits, make sure they are taking full advantage - if not, what better time to start than now!

Wendy Duren is a Manager of Business Development at Arlington Transportation Partners, and commutes with Metrorail daily.

Happy holidays from the United Parcel Service

Amsterdam and Copenhagen, among others, have been delivering mail by bike for some time.  However, the US Postal Service has not quite embraced the idea (wait until gas goes back up to $4 a gallon again).  UPS, however, is starting to get the message.  This holiday season, they deployed bikes for their residential deliveries, reports the New York Times. 

The article explains that since most of UPS' deliveries are business to business, they have more of a challenge handling the influx of packages going to homes during the holiday season in a cost-efficient manner.  The bicycle trailer they use can only hold 15-20 packages -- but I imagine if they are entering a neighborhood where those deliveries are all spread out (versus a downtown area where they may be delivering that many packages to one building), it makes much more sense to go by bike.  It won't take much more time than driving and parking a truck every half mile or so would, and doesn't use gas or eat into vehicle maintenance costs, which are the things their accounting department cares about.  Things I care about include a less carbon being spewed into the atmosphere and a healthier work environment for the UPS drivers who are riding every day.  (Plus, look at those awesome built-in mittens to keep the driver's hands warm while riding and braking!) 

Way to go UPS!  Now, can you guys have a game of golf with USPS and get them to drink the Kool-Aid, too?  Thanks.

Melissa Esposito is the Car-Sharing and Bike-Sharing Program Coordinator for Arlington County and likes the low-tech solutions best.

More Perks for the Environmentally Friendly

At last! Bicyclists are finally getting rewarded for taking an environmentally responsible way to work. Beginning January 1, 2009 bicycle commuters will be eligible to receive a tax-free transportation benefit. The commuter bicycle benefit allows employers to provide their employees who bicycle to work with a $20 monthly reimbursement. That's up to $240 a year!This includes any reasonable expenses incurred in the calendar year, such as:

• Purchase of a bicycle
• Repair of a bicycle
• Bicycle improvements
• Bicycle storage

As long as you ride your bicycle from your home to your work-site on a regular basis, you qualify! This benefit is for bike riders only. It cannot be combined with any other pre-tax transportation benefit, such as parking, transit or vanpool. If you bike to work each day, talk to your benefits coordinator and see how you can sign up!

Not to worry all other do-gooders, bicycle riders are not the only ones getting an after-holiday benefit bonus. The monthly pre-tax benefit amount for transit, vanpool and parking is also increasing. The amounts will increase to $120 for transit and vanpools and $230 for qualified parking.

If you're feeling jealous right now, it might be because you're sitting in traffic each day holding your horn down and cursing the person who created 495. Save yourself some money! Get out of those cars and try something new.

To learn more about these changes visit www.commuterpage.com/atp/ben-mckIRS.cfm

   

Kristin Howard works for Arlington Transportation Partners of ACCS, she is a frequent Metrorail commuter.

Business Benefits of Transportation Services

In a recent blog I wrote about research findings indicating that Arlington’s business leaders consider Arlington’s transportation system and services to be the number one reason to locate a business in Arlington.  Today, I would like to go into some of the specific ways these business leaders say Arlington’s transportation services benefit their companies.

Having many transportation options plus transportation assistance services to help people understand and use these options has a positive impact on people’s ability to get to work and also affects the ability of companies to access customers, to get goods and so forth.  Arlington’s many transportation options and services make the commute less stressful on people and also reduce congestion on Arlington’s streets, thus aiding the flow of street traffic for customers and service vehicles as well. 

As the chart below clearly shows, this translates into many advantages for companies; and business leaders know that!  This results not only from a good location in Arlington, but also from the County’s commuting services that help companies and their employees find easier, cheaper ways to get to work.  This free assistance is provided to employers by Arlington Transportation Partners.

As we look at the list of business benefits enumerated in the chart:  employee recruitment and retention, customer access, employee morale and productivity, and so on, it is clear these are all things that are central to business viability and profitability.  It is no wonder that business leaders consider Arlington’s transportation system and services the number one reason to locate in Arlington.  Not to be cliché, but this is obviously a win-win for employees, employers, and the community as a whole.  The folks at Arlington County Commuter Services who provide these assistance services make a strategic difference in the life of our community, so check them out and take advantage of what they offer, compliments of Arlington County.

Howard Jennings is Manager of Research and Development for Arlington Transportation Partners.  Depending on the day, he teleworks, or walks or rides the bus to Metrorail to get to work.

3-Wheeled Alternative to Motor Pool - Every Company Should Do This

According to information just supplied to Arlington employees, the County will be adding these nifty 2008 Trek three-wheel trikes to its motor pool as an alternative to using cars. The motor pool, which has been replacing vehicles with hybrid cars over the past few years is now taking another step towards the County's commitment to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent by 2012 by providing this transportation alternative.

Employees have to register to use the bikes and all registrants will receive a helmet. Bikes will be housed at the Central Library in Ballston, the Human Services building in Clarendon and the Government Center in Court House. The program will start with six bikes. The three-wheeled trikes are described as "a light, durable aluminum frame with a laid-back riding position and comfortable seat. The quick-rolling aluminum wheels and linear-pull brakes ensure a steady ride and a rear basked provide space for a laptop, files or whatever else you might need."

And the County is launching the program on World Car-Free Day September 22. How great is that?!

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a Metro/biking commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

Arlington’s Transportation Boosts Business Location Value

Arlington’s transportation system, with its broad array of options, is assuring that the County is a highly desirable business location and will remain so.  At a time when high gas prices are dampening the real estate market in the auto-dependent outer suburbs, Arlington’s advantage is only improving. 

In a mid 2007 survey, Arlington business leaders attested to the value of our highly diverse transportation system and services, even before gas prices topped the $4 mark. At that time, when gas was just over $3 per gallon, 88% of top business leaders who responded to the survey ranked Arlington County as a good place to locate a business.  No doubt today the rating would be even higher. 

Many factors figure into their ranking of a business location in a generic sense, and transportation tops the list.  When looking specifically at Arlington, our transportation system topped the list of Arlington-specific reasons the County is a good business location (40% of respondents).  Other factors, including location (31%), proximity to DC (20%), and amenities 17%) were also important; but our business leaders clearly discern that our diverse, sustainable transportation options are essential to providing good access to all of these by their employees, tenants, and customers.

 

The survey also makes it clear that business leaders value the comprehensive choices provided by our system:  rail and bus transit, roads, HOV lanes, bike facilities, and walkways.  What is especially gratifying is that they also recognize the value of SERVICES that help people know about these options, how to use them, and incentives available to do so.  And, they recommend putting hard dollars into these non-road facilities and services.  When asked how they would allocate Arlington County’s transportation dollars, they recommended a surprising 46% in non-road facilities and services:

53%:  Infrastructure - Roads

27%:  Infrastructure – bus, bike paths, walkways, etc.

19%:  Transportation services – Information-based support services that help you maximize transit use, bicycling, walking, carpooling, and so forth.

  Arlington has long charted a course that is different from the typical pattern of community development in America.  All three legs of the stool are needed to make this work:1) roads, 2) infrastructure for other modes, and 3) support services such as provided by Arlington County Commuter Services.  It is nice to see data showing that our business leadership is in concert with the public transportation policy needed to keep us competitive for the future.  No doubt challenging times are ahead, but Arlington is well-positioned to deal with them.  There is also good news right now for the thousands who commute into Arlington:  our money-saving services can help them ease the pain of long and expensive commutes.

Howard Jennings is Manager of Research and Development for Arlington Transportation Partners of ACCS. Depending on the day, he teleworks, or walks or rides the bus to Metrorail to get to work.