I-Like-To-Bike

If only company towns would return, just think of the savings in commute time, eh?
5 Famous Company Towns - History Lists

GP

I get nothing for cycling but get an incentive for driving - free parking. Hourly employees have to pay $3 or 4 depending on their classification.

We have a transit discount but it's only for the city trolley. I live outside of the trolley lines and take a train.

So I ride to the train station, train down to the city then ride to work. It costs me more per week ($55 vs. $25) and I have to leave earlier but it's worth it.

Daniel4

We know it won't happen but it's nice to dream.

Daniel4

Downtown is congested because there are too many parking spaces.

khyricat

THIS! I had 2 positions at the further away clinic (part time RD, part time manager)... the hours it led to (I was salaried) meant getting stuck in horrific traffic and being away from home almost constantly- there were many days I'd leave at 6 AM and not get home until after 8 PM due to traffic. So I started looking to step down from the management gig. There was a part time crisis coverage position across the state line in IN, I TOOK IT for a minimal 8 weeks- big bonus, hotel for 2 nights, mileage from the door, per diem, and 2 months to find what I wanted. Upper management thought I was crazy when I said I did it to save my marriage until I pointed out that I literally was spending less time in the car with that commute than I did on a normal day with the schedule I had at the time to go the other. 182 miles was taking LESS time in the car than 42 was! And the 42 included a 45 minute additional drive in each AM. Looking back, I wish I had gotten the trike back then, because it would have been an ideal thing to have used around that little town I was working in (Michigan City, IN), instead I walked and drove...

I was driving out on Sunday evening, coming home Tuesday after work, or on a few occasions driving out on Thursday, working, Fri, Sat, DH would come out and join me (his sister was 25 miles away with our nephews), Sunday we'd spend together adn then I'd work M/T and they'd pay for the extra night in a hotel and per diem because it was less than the extra round trip mileage. Yes we had to pay for him to come out, but still.. we got to spend time on Lake MI, spend time with family and on one occasion go into Chicago for the day and do the aquarium. I wound up covering for 4 months- though only partially the last month- I had started my new position and was covering 3 units, but it was worth it.. and I wound up getting the clinic that is close enough for a bike commute.

jon c. 

We have no incentives for biking. I work at a satellite location so we have free parking, but employees on the main campus pay. The only local mass transit is the bus system and that's free for employees so there's no need for further incentive. But I don't believe that very many take advantage of that.

RidingMatthew

just makes me wonder if this is gone if there was a way for employers to create a different plan that does the same thing.

Daniel4

That can be fixed by charging for parking and the funds subsidize the incentives for everyone else (who don't drive): those who walk to work, bike to work, public transit to work.

CB HI

I am curious if you would prefer to keep that $20/month or get the doubling of the personal standard tax deduction?

Korina

SRSLY??? I've been commuting 99.9% bus and bike for 16 years and this is the first I've heard of any kind of commuter benefit thingy. I should talk to our personnel dept. tomorrow.

KD5NRH

Employers can always subsidize whatever they want. (As long as it's not discriminating based on some protected status type, and probably a few other restrictions.) With a good accountant, they might even be able to sneak in a deduction for plenty of things. (In this case, they may be able to get some health coverage discounts worth a lot more by encouraging employees to exercise.) All this is losing them is a straight up tax credit for it.

Really, if you max out the benefit, assuming 40 hour weeks, it's a $0.115/hour raise. I'd rather push for a raise and not have the extra paperwork.

locolobo13 

St. Peter don't you call me, cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the company store.

Lot of mining towns like that too.

I-Like-To-Bike

That's OK for an anti-motorist ideologue just as long as the "commute" is short and/or not by a personally owned motor vehicle.

DiabloScott

Doubling the standard deduction is going to benefit me personally - probably more than $240/year I can get from the reimbursement.

The real question though is whether I would prefer to keep the existing tax plan with all its benefits and flaws vs the proposed tax plan - and that's a subject for P&R.

The benefit is just a tax credit for employers - so when I file my form, the company gives me non-taxable $20 in my paycheck, and then takes a credit for it on their taxes - costs the company nothing (but labor costs), costs the government $20 a month. Companies do all kinds of administrative paperwork like this, it really isn't much of an inconvenience to them, but they may not see the value in it. If the new tax law keeps incentives for carpooling and public transit, provides deductions for employers to offer parking and pool cars... then I don't see how you can interpret this commuter benefit loss as anything but "screw the bicyclists".

CB HI

Seems that it is mostly companies that say "screw the bicyclists" by not spending extra money on their tax filings for the little $240. The company would likely come out ahead by just giving you $240 out of pocket vice a feel good pass through.

How sure are you that the other "commuter benefit" will remain in place?

For me, I prefer the tax simplification and doubling of the standard deduction. Either one saves me over $240.