From Portland, with some thing for all of us.
Actually, this comes from Washington, D.C. but it originates with Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. It would allow "an incentive created in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century that enables their employers to pay for their bus or subway ride". The article also notes that "car parking can also treated as a tax-free benefit for employees, so this bill is especially important".
In Missouri, we can take note of this and email our own Senators Bond and Talent in support of this measure. Kansans should contact Senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback.
posted by KCJeff @ 6:42 PM
1 Comments:
Interesting. Another take:
When I lived in Washington State, the state imposed a fine on larger employers who had more than 100 cars in their parking lots. They wanted larger employers to reduce the cars in their lots by 40%. This fine is now history, but the affect that it had while in place was bike-friendly.
Here's how:
Companies that were more progressive (or wanted better P.R.) did some cool things. My employer, (who had 220 employees at the time), decided to use the $$$ they were going to spend to pay the fine (anyway) to give alternate-means commuters a "kick-back commuter incentive."
How it worked: If you rode a bike, took the bus, or carpooled every day of a particular month, you got a bonus on your check amounting to $80 - $100 per month. For many workers, this was meaningless, but for many of us working stiffs, this was seen as an opporturnity. The company got enough participation to avoid the fine, and got some good PR out of it. I (and other employees) found inventive ways to get to work and stay on the program, and to help the program succeed for everybody. (If there wasn't enough participation, the funding wasn't there for your bonus). I was a supervisor of a small department at the time, and I changed my morning meeting time from 7 a.m. to 7:10 a.m., to accomodate a bus stop schedule. I also started commuting at about 50% bike/50% bus, at the time, (weather dependent). It was a glorious experiment, while it lasted!
Nice blog!
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