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Access to affordable transportation is one of the major barriers facing those making the transition from welfare rolls to payrolls. Only one in 20 welfare recipients owns a car. Furthermore, while three of every four welfare recipients live in central cities or rural areas, two-thirds of all new jobs are in the suburbs. Public transit does not always provide adequate connections to these suburban employment opportunities.
In preparing to hire welfare recipients, employers need information on the availability of transportation services. The following information sources can assist employers in assessing transportation options.
Public Transit. Local transit agencies can provide information about available services, routes, schedules, and fares between a person's home and job site. Transit agencies also need to know about major employment sites for planning additional or supplemental transportation services. For example, in one innovative partnership with United Parcel Service (UPS), the Worcester, Massachusetts, Regional Transit Authority has initiated a new bus service from inner city neighborhoods to the UPS facility in Shrewsbury for the late night shift. UPS provides 50 percent for the cost of operating this service which provides Worcester's low income population with access to good jobs.
Transit agencies that maintain websites can be accessed directly through the Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) website @ ["transit"]. The American Public Transit Association (APTA) also maintains a list of transit agencies with websites @ ["transus"].
Use local sources for transit agencies not found at either of these sites.
Transit Benefit Program. Federal tax law allows an employer to provide up to $65 per month to subsidize an employee's transit or vanpool commute. The employer can deduct these costs as business expenses and the benefits are not taxable income to the employee. Employers should contact local transit agencies about transit pass/benefit programs. Vanpools must meet specific requirements to qualify for the program. For more information about the Transit Benefit Program, access the FTA website @ [" tranben"].
A number of cities throughout the country offer Transit Benefit programs. The TransitChek program in the New York and Philadelphia region is one example of a successful program. Employers purchase regional transit vouchers for distribution to employees and receive tax benefits. Employees use the vouchers with any of the region's public and private transit operators. Booz, Allen & Hamilton's transportation consulting practice, based in Newark, joined the TransitChek program to cut employee commuting costs and to demonstrate their commitment to reducing traffic congestion and pollution. Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Milwaukee, Norfolk and Washington, D.C. all offer such programs.
Commuterbucks is a successful vanpool voucher program run by VPSI, Inc., a national company, that simplifies the administrative burden for employers. Employers purchase vouchers for employees to use towards VPSI service fares.
•Guaranteed Ride Home. For those who ride public transportation, some transit agencies and private employers offer a guaranteed ride home to employees faced with home emergencies or illness. This is frequently an important backstop for employees, including welfare recipients, who have long, complex commutes.
Ventura County, California has just established a guaranteed ride home program as part of their welfare to work "Pride" program. It serves as a safety net for people using public transportation to get to work by providing free taxi rides or rental cars to commuters who are confronted by unforeseen crises while at work.
Ridesharing/Vanpooling. Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) frequently are providers of regional ridesharing matching services. For a list of MPOs with websites, access the FTA website @ ["mpo"].
As the lead agencies administering the welfare program, states have an interest in shaping transportation programs to facilitate welfare recipients' transition to work. State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are another source of information on ridesharing programs. For a list of state DOTs on the internet, access the FTA website @ ["otherstate"].
The Division Offices of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, located in every state capital, are another source of ridesharing information, access the FHWA website @ ["field"].
Employers may also choose to organize carpools or vanpools among the existing workforce to assist new workers in getting to work.
Transportation Management Associations (TMAs). TMAs have been organized by businesses to improve transportation in focused geographic areas-- most typically in suburban centers. TMAs can provide information such as existing transit services, ridesharing matching services, and guaranteed ride home programs. Local transit agencies can identify the TMAs in their service areas.
Transportation Planning. Metropolitan Planning Organizations are regional bodies responsible for developing transportation plans and setting priorities for regional transportation spending. States and localities, working with MPOs and public transit operators, are beginning to assess the welfare to work transportation gaps facing their communities. For example: Kentucky has taken a comprehensive approach to providing coordinated transportation. Four Cabinet offices -- Families and Children, Health Services, Workforce Development and Transportation --came together and combined transportation resources to develop a new coordinated free transportation brokerage system for all their beneficiaries. This system, which Kentucky is now implementing, will assure that transportation is available in all areas of the state, especially those previously underserved.
In St. Louis, the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, which serves as the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Missouri and Illinois bi-state region, developed a long range transportation plan that linked transportation investment with economic, employment and other community benefits and launched the St. Louis Regional Jobs Initiative. A broad consortium -- 16 agencies and organizations -- serve as a governing board for the initiative, which focuses on jobs available along the Metrolink rail line as well as in the suburbs. All workforce development projects are developed in partnership with specific employers. Transportation is integrated into a broad approach that addresses total mobility needs to support access to work.
The Connecticut Department of Social Services allocated Federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds for public transit operators across the state to provide new transportation services to move welfare recipients to work. This step is forging new partnerships to provide welfare recipients with the transportation necessary to successfully transition from Welfare-to-Work. The Capital Region Council of Governments in Hartford led a broad-based coalition in developing a comprehensive two year Welfare-to-Work transportation pilot plan.
New Jersey announced a transportation initiative to move Work First New Jersey participants to work. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) will be providing technical assistance and asking each county to develop a transportation coordination plan. Other elements of the initiative include:
o free one-month mass transit passes for welfare recipients; o a planning fund to seed solutions to transportation needs; o one county demonstration integrating employment transportation into the existing network serving seniors and citizens with disabilities; and, o one county demonstration creating a feeder network for short trip connections to public transit.
North Carolina is providing technical assistance to counties to bring together the transportation, social services and employment programs to address client mobility needs and is encouraging the use of excess seats on school buses for employment transportation. Ohio has asked every county to develop a transportation plan by January 1998.
Employers should address their employment transportation needs to the MPOs and states. For a list of MPOs with websites, access the FTA website @ ["mpo"].
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