Benefits

From improving the bottom line to increasing employee productivity and health and well-being, businesses have a lot to gain by encouraging smart commuting practices, since they:

  • Reduce traffic congestion, saving businesses money. Traffic congestion causes an annual loss of $40 billion to business in the United States. If all U.S. public transportation commuters drove instead, that loss would increase by over 37 percent.
  • Save money on employee time lost to delay, accident and injury on the road. In 2000, there were 23.8 million accidents involving passenger cars, light trucks and SUVs. Motor vehicle injuries resulted in the loss of $71.5 billion in wages and productivity.
  • Improve productivity through better health. Businesses that encourage employees to bike or walk to work benefit from increased productivity as a result of improved employee fitness and mental health. People who walk are generally more punctual and take less sick days.
  • Make travel times more predictable. Predictable travel times are valuable for businesses and urban travelers. Alternative transportation makes road systems more reliable and predictable.
  • Create more free time for employees. In communities that use a combination of alternate commuting options—like public transportation and bus and carpool lanes—annual congestion delay is reduced from 53 to 46 hours per person traveling in peak periods. That’s almost an entire work day employees gain to do something fun instead of sitting in traffic.
  • Reduce parking expenses for businesses. In areas where alternative commuting is widely used, businesses save on land required for parking and its related costs. Businesses located near public transportation can reduce the number of parking spaces required for offices and retail businesses by 30 percent and 50 percent respectively, saving between $2,000 and $20,000 per parking space.

Tax Benefits

The Federal tax code allows employers to reduce payroll taxes for qualified transit, train, vanpooling and biking benefits.

Learn more about these benefits from the Internal Revenue Services.