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  • General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.
General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.

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 #1607117  by eolesen
 
I've seen it, but only when offices moved, and only for employees who had been impacted by the relocation.
 #1607118  by photobug56
 
When the Japanese bank I worked for in Manhattan (i came in 2 days per week) opened a new White Plains office, they ordered hundreds of employees to go there for work. Many had no cars, and for many others, an already long commute would get even worse. My daily round trip would have gone from 4 hours to 6 3 days per week,- on a good day. They offered some extra money monthly for doing this. I suggested that they run shuttle busses from several locations, including Jamaica Station, to take them to WP. Most days it would have made things doable. One of the senior managers (who lived near WP) found my idea very funny, and ridiculed me during a meeting. This firm had prided itself on never laying off employees, but many were forced out just so the US bosses could eliminate their commutes and get large bonuses. As to the Japanese bosses, it's not clear they even knew this was happening. A few months later came the COVID shutdown, and the new offices were quite empty.
 #1607119  by RandallW
 
It used to be common for commuters to US Government agencies to get reimbursed if they did not drive as part of the congestion control plans around the DC area. I recall when I had meetings at the pentagon, I'd take Metro and expense it, while colleagues would drive to the Pentagon Mall parking lot and walk (over a mile) from there, but couldn't expense it.
 #1607127  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Randall W, how about agencies that offer or offered employees reduced rate parking in downtown DC, and nothing for using mass transit?

Hasn't it kind of been national policy for workers to use mass transit wherever reasonably possible?

I guess that kind of means/meant "taxpayer dollars being used to subsidize employees to get to work in the most energy wasting manner".

Please don't ask what agency I'm addressing.
 #1607129  by STrRedWolf
 
photobug56 wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 7:21 pm I have never had an employer who reimbursed commuting costs.
My current one does but that is now by the wayside "in this day and age." I'd used to get my MARC ticket reimbursed as a traveling expense. Now... well, $162/month back in my pocket instead of held for two weeks.

And the previous job? Well, when you're employed by the transit agency providing the service...
 #1607132  by scratchyX1
 
STrRedWolf wrote: Fri Sep 23, 2022 8:11 am
photobug56 wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 7:21 pm I have never had an employer who reimbursed commuting costs.
My current one does but that is now by the wayside "in this day and age." I'd used to get my MARC ticket reimbursed as a traveling expense. Now... well, $162/month back in my pocket instead of held for two weeks.

And the previous job? Well, when you're employed by the transit agency providing the service...
I used to get my monthly MARC pass reimbursed. Employer I think got a tax write off for providing it.
unrelated, when since when was the monthly MARC pass no longer be recognized as a pass on the rest of the MTA transit system?
 #1607158  by STrRedWolf
 
scratchyX1 wrote: Fri Sep 23, 2022 9:09 am I used to get my monthly MARC pass reimbursed. Employer I think got a tax write off for providing it.
unrelated, when since when was the monthly MARC pass no longer be recognized as a pass on the rest of the MTA transit system?
It hasn't been rescinded. MARC Monthlys are good on a lot of MTA Maryland transit and is in the internal fare guide.

Make sure your pass is valid for that month, and if a bus operator complains, note the bus number and route number. Even better if you get the "block number" in front of the bus. The contact MTA Maryland about it. The complaint does go into a central database and will get the operators retrained.
 #1607174  by Literalman
 
The company I worked for until 2017 gave employees either free parking or $135 toward transit, as I recall. The $135 paid for about half of my VRE ticket. The company I worked for after that offered neither free parking nor transit subsidy. By then I was riding Metrobus to work at $4 a day ($2 once I turned 65). Both companies were government contractors, and my understanding was that the transit subsidy was a requirement of a contract held by the first company.
 #1607201  by lensovet
 
IRS provides a benefit of $280 that is not taxed. This is for both transit and "qualified" commuter parking.

My employer provides $100 for free and allows you to set aside the remaining $180 from your paycheck.
 #1607208  by lensovet
 
Not sure why you would get burned, I have never bought an actual monthly through that program and instead just load up my Wageworks card (which you can then use to buy whatever tickets you need). Whatever you don't use just stays there as long as you're still employed.
 #1607209  by photobug56
 
Each employer does it differently, with different timing. With COVID, people often had several hundred bucks in their account when they either - without warning, converted to WFH, or got laid off. Keep in mind commuter ticket(s) plus subway. The money eventually goes away if not used, and you can't get it back as per IRS regs (even if they could withhold the taxes on it). And layoffs can happen at any time with no warning.

Some programs work better than others. Some require you to pay for your tickets and get reimbursement. Some use debit cards, which as long as everything is correct may work well. Some cards won't read in some systems. And, of course, I've heard (from MTA bosses) how OMNY handles it. And using it with the current discount programs MIGHT be confusing.

Also, let's say that the number of days you commute varies based on work and personal circumstances. If you're not in at least a few days per week, getting a weekly or monthly doesn't work so well.

So I'm not against this program, except that 1. it doesn't go far enough, and 2. Parking at work tends to get a better deal, 3. It does have some gotchas. I've certainly used it pretty heavily at times.
 #1607238  by eolesen
 
I got burned for $700 in Metra 10 ride tickets with expiration dates in Aug 2020. They refused to refund them because trains were still running.

Only thing I could do was stop the pretax deductions from continuing. I still have money sitting in the commuter savings that I'll never use as our offices moved mid-Covid. Even if Metra had agreed to refund that $700, it simply would have been refunded back to the commuter savings account that I no longer need and add to whats already there...

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