August 13th, 2008 · No Comments

By Catherine Girardeau

Let’s face it: Solo car commuters increase both traffic congestion and a city’s carbon footprint.

In San Francisco, those gas-hogging lone drivers soon will be get a clear message to switch to greener forms of transportation, such as buses, train transit and van pools. Earlier this month, the city preliminarily approved a commuter measure requiring medium- and large-size city employers to promote — or even pay for — public transit or vanpools for their commuting employees.

It’s likely that many more American cities will follow San Francisco’s lead, particularly those cities that have signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (USCPA), and pledged to reduce global warming pollution in their cities by 7 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012. They will likely be scrambling to usher commuters from their cars and SUV’s and onto mass transit lines, an immediate and proven way of reducing urban smog.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was an early adopter of the USCPA and the city has an ambitious climate action plan, so it’s no surprise that on August 5, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a commuter measure that would require many city employers to promote public transit or vanpools for their commuting employees. The Commuter Benefits ordinance, introduced by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, would give San Francisco employers with more than 20 workers three options: pay for employees’ transit passes or vanpools; provide door-to-door shuttle or vanpools, or tap into the federal Commuter Checks program, which allows employees to create pretax commuter accounts.

San Francisco Chamber of Commerce senior vice president Jim Lazarus said the chamber is not always in favor of city-imposed mandates on businesses, but said it backs the latest commuter proposal. “The good thing about the mandate is that it has a net no-cost alternative for employers,” he said. Employers would save on their payroll taxes by implementing option three of the proposal, pre-tax employee commuter accounts. “There’s flexibility and that’s a positive thing,” Lazarus said.

The Commuter Benefits plan aims to extend the same mass transit benefit that most municipal employees receive through programs like the federal Commuter Checks to the private sector, Mirkarimi said. Municipal employees can already avail themselves of employer-subsidized transit discounts, and the Commerce’s Lazarus said many do.

A city-mandated downtown plan for 55 new high rise buildings requiring employers to educate employees about non-car transit options resulted in 92% worker participation in Commuter Checks: 3,000 employees traveling to work in some way other than a single-occupancy vehicle.

But the federal pretax benefits program is “not well utilized in the private sector,” Mirkarimi said. “Our city’s workforce use of this benefit pales in comparison to how many could be using it.”

With gas averaging well over $4 in San Francisco, the potential numbers of transit benefits users could be big. Jared Blumenfeld, who heads the city’s Department of Environment, estimates another 50,000 to 75,000 transit riders may enroll for commuter benefits.

The federal program works like this: The employer buys Commuter Checks – vouchers used to pay for public transit or vanpooling – and either gives them to employees free of charge as an employee benefit, or allows employees to purchase them using a pre-tax payroll deduction. Because the amount employees spend on transit or vanpooling, up to $115 a month, can be deducted from their paychecks before taxes, their yearly taxable income is reduced by the value of vouchers purchased. That can translate to a savings of up to 40% on transit costs.

Mass transit commuters save even more than that, however, through the direct and immediate savings on gasoline and car maintenance. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) estimates that with a gallon of gasoline at $3.90, a person can save about $8,000 a year by switching to mass transit, according to a July report by the APTA.

And that’s not even accounting for greenhouse gas savings.

”It really goes beyond saving a few dollars for employers and employees; it’s a city response to an energy crisis and also to the global environmental crisis,” San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said. The measure was approved by a final vote of the board yesterday but must be signed by the mayor to take effect.

Employers don’t have to wait for a mandate to offer commuter benefits to their workers. Businesses nationwide are taking initiative to offer sometimes-innovative commuting options. Siegel and Strain, an Emeryville, California architecture firm, reimburses its employees at the current federal automobile rate of 58.5 cents per mile for bicycling to off-site meetings.

Compare that to the state of California rate of 4 cents per mile for state workers who bike on government business, or even The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s suggested 10 cents per mile reimbursement rate, and you have a nice incentive, and even “a scone at the bakery on the way back to recharge,” said Siegel and Strain associate Marjorie Smith.

Smith said that while it’s nice to be reimbursed for wear and tear on the bike and calories expended, what she really likes about the program is that it institutionalizes bicycling as transportation. “Having the support of the organization behind it acknowledges that bicycling is a valid way to get around,” she said.

This type of program is a win-win for both employers and employees looking to reduce their environmental impact and improve their health. “We’ve been looking at ways to further green our business,” said Nancy Malone, a principal at the firm. “One of things we’ve been looking at is transportation. The idea came from someone relatively new who asked if we reimbursed for bicycle riding to the job site.” The firm decided to go with the auto reimbursement rate because the distances ridden “won’t be huge”, and if employees drove, the firm would have had to pay the same amount.

“Most of the people that ride their bikes really are dedicated to it and really enjoy it. If people are happier doing that it’s certainly a plus for everybody,” Malone said.

Siegel and Strain, with 18 employees, will make a relatively small impact on the planet by supporting carbon-free travel. But the trend includes much bigger companies too. The League of American Bicyclists, which recognizes municipalities for actively supporting bicycling, has a new plan to give awards to bicycle-friendly businesses. The applications are still being reviewed, but director Bill Nesper mentioned a couple of companies in the running:

• Calvert -- The Washington, D.C. investment company reimburses up to $500 for the (one time) purchase of a bicycle and reimburses up to $120 annually for the purchase of shoes for those employees who walk to work.

• Google – Provides on-site bike repair, a fleet of company bicycles for on-campus and off-site meeting commuting on its Mountain View, CA campus, and, free, company-branded bikes for some employees in its Europe, Middle East, and Africa offices. The company also makes a donation to charity for every day that an employee gets to work under his or her own power (biking, skateboarding etc.) A Google spokesperson says that more than 2,500 employees participate in the Self-Powered Commuters (SPC) program worldwide.
  

Many other programs and resources support city-backed climate plans, and public transit and bicycle commuting, including:

• Cool Cities — In this Sierra Club-Sponsored program, Cool Cities are cities that have made a commitment to stopping global warming by signing the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement. Begun in 2005, the Cool Cities campaign empowers city residents and local leaders to join and encourage their cities to start smart energy solutions to save money and build a cleaner, safer future.

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Best Workplaces for Commuters — As it says, this is a list of employers with commuter-friendly policies.

• Seattle Climate Action Plan — Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels initiated the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, and Seattle’s Climate plan is the model for cities nationwide. The campaign provides online tools and tips for getting started on climate action.

• The City of Seattle website provides a good explanation of commuter benefit programs and also offers a page of links to transportation resources for those who want to find carpool programs or find out more about city bus and train options across the country.

• American Public Transportation Association’s Public Transportation Savings Calculator lets you see for yourself how taking transport saves you money.

• San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Employers Commuting Guide helps employers decide which commuting options they could offer, based on location, number of employees and other factors.

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