Commuter Choice Maryland offers multiple benefits to commuters. (MDOT)
Did you know the Maryland Department of Transportation runs a program to provide businesses and workers with resources to make commuting easier, cheaper and greener? It’s called Commuter Choice Maryland and it has several benefits for employers. The program helps businesses who offer, or are looking to set up, workplace commuting incentives for their employees. These incentives could help qualify businesses for substantial federal and state tax savings.
For example, businesses can save almost 8% on payroll taxes by offering employees commuter benefits such as telework, flexible schedules or a credit to buy bus or train tickets. They may also use the Maryland Commuter Tax Credit to claim up to $1,200 per employee by offering qualifying commuter subsidies. Other benefits include the ability to attract and retain top talent while boasting more productive, satisfied employees.
To hear how Commuter Choice Maryland supports companies across the state, we reached out to a few that signed up to learn about their experience.
The Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) joined after Commuter Choice Maryland heard about the company’s successful teleworking program and reached out to them. SMECO provides electric service to more than 175,000 customers in Calvert, Charles, St. Mary’s and Prince George’s counties. Joe Trentacosta, senior vice president and chief information officer at SMECO said, “the program helps us with recruitment and retention of employees in a [Customer Service] field that traditionally has high turnover.” With locations in Hughesville and Leonardtown, Trentacosta said 75% of SMECO employees use Commuter Choice Maryland programs.
Kari Swenson has had a similar experience with her employees. As the owner and operator of 13 McDonald’s in the D.C. Metropolitan region, Swenson said about two thirds of her employees commute using the transit benefits. Through the Maryland Commuter Trax Credit she was able to provide free SmarTrip transit cards to her employees at half of the cost to the business.
“When I ask people what keeps them here, it’s paid time off and it’s SmartBenefits,” said Swenson.
Marylanders who take MARC commuter train can take advantage of the many resources available through Commuter Choice Maryland. (David Trozzo/MDOT).
OFFICENSE discovered Commuter Choice Maryland when reviewing available tax benefits for small businesses. The company offers professional front and back-office business services such as answering phone calls, processing checks and payments and providing technology and communications support. Noah Shumway, the company’s operations director, said the Baltimore business “immediately recognized the benefit to our employees because of our location downtown.”
Shumway said 100% of the company’s employees opted-in to the company’s program that provides a monthly commuter credit to buy transit passes. He said Commuter Choice Maryland, “was a natural fit for our company’s philosophy” and added, “we’ve been able to create an incentive to encourage the use of more sustainable and affordable modes of travel for our team. The program makes our staff’s commutes both cheaper and easier, as well as reduces the stress involved in driving into the city and finding parking each day.”
Shumway also noted an added benefit of “a happier team leads to better employee retention and better performance for our company.” He said he is optimistic the program will help increase public transit ridership and garner support to expand on dependable transit in Baltimore City.
“We see a clear connection between reliable, well-administered downtown transit and the economic success of the city,” said Shumway. “The ability to easily commute to the Inner Harbor also expands the hiring pool of potential employees for downtown businesses like ours.”
If you are interested in starting a commuter program for your business, visit www.mdot.maryland.gov/employerpartner for information and contact the team at commuterchoice@mdot.maryland.gov or 410-865-1100.
Meredith Devereux is a Senior Writer with the Maryland Department of Transportation.
