Earlier this month, the Jawnt team had the incredible opportunity to sponsor and attend the Association for Commuter Transportation’s (ACT) International Conference, bringing together leaders, innovators, and professionals dedicated to advancing transportation options worldwide. We spent the week in Denver, attending tours, workshops, and committee meetings with other leaders in the transportation demand management space. Here are a few of our takeaways. 

TDM Programs Aren’t Just for White-Collar Workers

Large tech campuses with private shuttle services and bike showers might be what many people think of when they hear “Transportation Demand Management”–after all, TDM has historically skewed to serve white collar workers and people commuting during peak-period congestion. However, at Jawnt, we know everyone can benefit from better transit–so it was incredibly interesting to hear about how mobility professionals are thinking about it for shift- and low-wage workers, as well as college students. 

Alta’s Aaron Gaul spoke on how the City of Inglewood collaborated with Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) to build Iride Inglewood, a shuttle service that worked for employees coming in for early-morning and late-night staff, including: having interviewers that were local to Inglewood for information-gathering, prioritizing timeliness and service for riders, and overcoming the challenges of launching a shuttle service during COVID-19. Employees went from having extremely complex commutes with many paying for inconvenient parking, to having an on-demand, app-based microtransit service built around their needs.

Additionally, Jessica Kramer and Aaron Fodge from Colorado State University presented on “Inclusive University Design to Support Equitable Access to All Commuters”–a talk on how transportation demand management fits into accessibility principles on their campuses. Having accessible transit, as well as things like pumping rooms, community gathering spaces, and adaptive restrooms means that CSU is welcoming to students, faculty, staff, and visitors. 

Employers Are Balancing Increasing Commuter Benefit Enrollment With Growing Workloads

Beyond networking and attending sessions, some of the most valuable time we spent at ACT was with employers–hearing what’s working for them, and what isn’t. What we found is that employers want to support sustainable options, but need technology that will cut down on administrative time–one representative mentioned spending 1,500 hours per year on administering their commuter benefits program! Employers want to subsidize commutes, but employees with unpredictable work schedules, like hybrid or shift workers, are left with high, unused balances on their commuter debit cards.  (If this is you, feel free to reach out to us–we’d love to talk to you about the Jawnt Pass’s dynamic deduction feature.)

Collaboration Is Key

A recurring theme in many of the sessions–Moving as One: Northern Colorado's Collaboration for Smarter Commutes; Scooting, Spinning, and Sharing: Different Models for Shared Micromobility Programs–was the importance of collaboration. Whether it’s between public and private sectors, different transportation providers, or across cities and regions, working together is essential for creating comprehensive and effective transportation solutions. In particular, Jawnt was proud to be a finalist for the 2024 ACT Outstanding Public-Private Partnership for our work with SEPTA Key Advantage, and even prouder to cheer on the winners from Houston METRO Transit Authority and METRO Star Vanpool Services. 

Next Stop: Commuter Tax Code Expansion

We had so many interesting conversations with organizations this year at ACT, but one of the most interesting parts of the event was the discussion led by Larry Filler regarding changes to the commuter tax code (section 132(f)). Contrary to popular belief, you can absolutely fill a conference room for an 8am session on tax code.

Across the board, from employers to transit agencies, everyone in the room believed in a few fundamental changes that should be enacted. The next year provides a unique opportunity to revamp the code and make a number of revisions that better accommodate changes in commuter habits. A few areas that we’ll be working to update:

• Re-adding and expanding the employee-owned bike benefits
• Addition of bikeshare and other micromobility providers (such as scooters)
• Expansion of who can use the benefit–making it accessible for all trips and all users, similar to the HSA/FSA model

Larry was instrumental in writing the initial commuter tax code and has continued to be a staunch advocate for improving it over time. The Jawnt team is thrilled to be working with him and ACT to improve the monetary benefits and incentives for commuters across the US.

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