Triathablog Special Report: Get paid to get to work

You know all of those add-on's to the Financial 'Rescue' Bill? Turns out one of them is the Bicycle Commuter Act, H.R 1424 Sec 211. The Bill gives employers $20 a month in tax credit for 'qualified bicycle commuting'. From Bicycle Retailer and Industry News:

The employer tax break is laid out in Sec. 211, “Transportation fringe benefit to bicycle commuters," which is under the Transportation and Domestic Fuel Security Provision section in H.R. 1424. The $20 a month tax relief per bicycle commuting employee is to cover the cost of any employer reimbursement for reasonable expenses incurred by the employee “for the purchase of a bicycle and bicycle improvements, repair, and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment.”

You can see a copy of the bill in it's entirety on Congress' website.This is part of the controversial add-on's tacked on the Bailout bill. As to why it was added on and what this has to do with the financial crisis, no one seems to have an answer. The Act has been added to many bills and was held up each time.

The bill goes into effect Dec 1, 2008.

I see this as a great way to get your employer behind bike commuting. In the business world, numbers talk. If 5 people at your job bike to work every month, they are looking at $1200 every year.

Still not convinced? How about getting paid to bike to work? Here in Alabama there is a program called Commutesmart. According to their website (commutesmarter.org):

"GetGreen offers commuters $2 per day, up to $120 over a three-month period, to anyone who lives or works in Jefferson or Shelby Counties when they change their commutes from driving alone to a qualified commute alternative. Commuters are paid for each day they choose to carpool, telework, take transit, bike or walk to work. After you have completed the GetGreen program, you will automatically be enrolled into our Commuter Club!
read more about Commuter Club on the website.

Commutesmart will also send an Outreach Coordinator to your workplace to customize a program that will best fit employees and employer in your company. In addition, tax benefits that are stated here (they were a bit confusing to me but seem to boil down to pre-tax money being set aside for commuting expenses as a 'benefit').

So, let's see: your employer gets $20 a month, you get $2 a day (up to $120 a month) and there are tax breaks. Financially it is a win-win. I haven't even taken into account health care cost reductions, quality of life increases and plain old gas cost reduction. I plan to sign up for Commutesmart today and encourage you to join me. Maybe once a month we could grab a beer on the way home with our earnings!

What do you think? Is this something you are interested in and would sign up for? Anyone want to sign up together and help encourage each other?

to pedal power!!