For assistance in setting up a ride share program, find employer resources in your area.

Enhance your employee benefits with IRS approved pretax incentives for commuters through company-sponsored plans.  The companies below offer services to help you set these programs up and administer them for you much like a 401k administrator or Flexible Spending Account Administrator:

• Commuter Express (WageWorks)  
• Commuter Check
• TransitCenter  

Employer Benefits:

Ride-share programs are winners for boosting morale and employee relations. Employer-provided ride-share services:

• reduce employee stress and fatigue.
• increase employee commitment and productivity.
• cut absenteeism and tardiness.

Company-sponsored carpool/vanpool programs make employers more desirable; provide effective, low-cost recruitment and retention tools; increase access to labor markets; and enhance employee benefits packages.

Benefits for All:

• Employers can offer incentive transit passes or vanpool subsidies.
• Employers can save on payroll-related taxes by deducting the full cost of these benefits as a business expense.
• Employees can set aside pre-tax income to pay their share of transit and vanpool fares; or a combination of both.
• Employees can save on federal income taxes.

Possible Benefits for Public Employees:

Employees working for New York State also qualify for the New York State Employee Commuter Tax Benefit . For more on how to participate, click NYS-Ride .

Employees working for county and local governmental agencies should consult their human resource or personnel departments to determine eligibility.

As of February 2009, employees may set aside up to $230 a month of their salaries before taxes to pay for transit and vanpool fares, up to $230 per month for qualified parking expenses at or near an employer's work site from which the employee commutes via transit or vanpool, or a combined amount of up to $460 per month for both.

Employers also may offer employees the option of setting aside a portion of their pre-tax income via payroll deduction, allowing employees to purchase transit passes or to pay for vanpool fares themselves. The Commuter Tax Benefit is available only through an employer-sponsored commuter benefit program and is easy to set up.

You, the employer, also can choose to split the cost of purchasing transit passes or paying vanpool fares with your employees. You cover a portion of the cost directly and your employees cover the rest out of pre-tax dollars.
(Federal tax law allowances)

See the Commuter Tax Benefits Summary Table for options available to employers and employees. Make sure to consult your corporate accountant or tax attorney.

What Transportation Services Qualify?

Transit services that are publicly or privately owned or operated and employer-provided or employer-sponsored vanpools qualify under the tax-exempt program.

Want to support ride-sharing and provide other commuting alternatives for your employees? The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council's Regional Commuter Choice Awards Program is an innovative, voluntary business-government program that honors New York metropolitan-area employers for offering outstanding commuter benefits. Many employers have been recognized for providing their employees such incentives as free or low-cost bus passes, strong telecommuting programs, carpool-matching and vanpool subsidies. Find additional information at: Regional Commuter Choice Awards Program .