.McQuade.Brennan.LLP.

Currently, there are approximately 200,000 riders and 4,000 employers participating in Metro’s SmartBenefits program. The program allows employees to set aside of a portion of their salary, before taxes, for transit expenses. Metrorail, Metrobus and regional bus fares, parking at Metro lots and registered van pool expenses are loaded onto a SmartTrip card each month at vending machines located in Metro stations.

Metro has proposed the following program changes:

- Workers would be required to set an amount for transit rides and transit parking, a new requirement.

- Unused transit and parking benefits for the month would be returned to the employer, instead of rolling over. This change upset many employees, since some employers had decided to keep the funds and not credit employees.

- Riders will not need to visit vending machines each month to download their benefits. Instead, the transaction will occur at the fare gate, bus box, or parking exit. The program will use the new cards like debit cards, deducting used amounts from the benefit amount set aside for the month.

These changes were going to be effective Jan. 1st, but due to the volume of complaints from employers and employers, Metro has decided to postpone the transition another year to give employers and employees more time to review the proposed changes to the program.

IRS has agreed to the extension although a formal request is pending. Metro says the changes are needed to protect the benefit system from misuse and that the additional time will allow them to make other planned improvements to the program as well.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Non-Profits, Private Equity, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.