New Jersey commuters know congestion too well. NJ has five of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the nation and that costs commuters millions of dollars and lots of stress. And long, stressful commutes can translate into the loss of productivity and unhappy employees.
So if you are looking for ways to make life easier for employees, here are 5 things you can do and we at GMTMA can help you get started:
- Encourage ridesharing
A carpool is a group of two or more employees driving to work together. Let your employees know about carpooling and encourage them to carpool at least once a week. GMTMA has a free carpool matching service, can help you determine the potential for carpooling, and we can help you talk to your employees about it.
- Free van to transit
Many employees would like to take transit but face the “last mile” problem; they have no way to get to the office from transit. The solution to that is an employer-sponsored van that can run in the morning bringing employees to the office and in the afternoon bringing employees to transit. To make it more affordable see if you can partner with other businesses near you. We can help with that too.
- Encourage bicycling
If a free van to transit is not feasible, encourage employees to bicycle from transit to the office. Employees are more likely to bike to work when they have access to showers, bicycle racks, and bike repair tool stations. The IRS permits employers to reimburse up to $20/month for reasonable expenses related to commuting by bicycles.
- Incentivize employees not to drive
Offer a financial reward to employees who do no drive. Offer transit, vanpool and bicycle commuting tax benefits.
- Help employees form a vanpool
Vanpools consist of 7-15 people, and the van can be leased by a third party vendor. NJ Transit offers a Vanpool Sponsorship Program of $175 per month to form vanpool where public transportation is not available. GMTMA can help you with setting up a vanpool.
Your local Transportation Management Association can help you get started. TMAs offer programs and services to help employers reduce costs and congestion. Here is a sample of what TMAs can do for your business: http://www.gmtma.org/pg-employers-programs-and-services.php