Residents, employees, and visitors in the San Francisco Bay Area have more modes of public transportation to help them get around than any other region in the United States. We have ferries, streetcars, light rail, buses, iconic cable cars, subways, casual carpool, bikes, scooters, and many more. While many other cities like Philadelphia have one agency running their trains and buses (hi, SEPTA!), the Bay Area has a whopping twenty-seven. Bay Area commuters also experience one of the longest average one-way commutes in the country. It’s not unusual for commuters to regularly ride across three systems in a day, and of course each agency has its own passes, prices, discounts, and transfer rules. 

For employers and HR practitioners helping their employees get to work, trip planning can easily get complicated. Add to that the complexity of regional employer mandates, and the thought of all these commutes might start to get a little overwhelming. Keep reading for answers to some of the biggest transit questions in the Bay. (Still have questions? Drop us a line.)

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Does San Francisco, Oakland, or San Jose have a transit benefit mandate for employers?

Yes. Any employer with 50 full-time employees or more located within the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is subject to the Bay Area Commuter Benefit Program. This district boundary includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southwestern Solano, and southern Sonoma counties.

The Bay Area’s mandate comes from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), which is led by a board of 24 elected officials from across the nine-county Bay Area. The Bay Area Commuter Benefits Program, as the mandate is known, was proposed by BAAQMD and adopted by the California State Legislature in 2016.

Commuter benefit mandates, sometimes called transit benefit mandates or commuter benefit ordinances, are growing in popularity across the country. These mandates are pretty similar–businesses of a certain size must provide a way for employees to put aside pre-tax dollars to spend on eligible expenses related to getting to work. The purpose of these mandates is to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. 

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How can employers comply with the transit benefit mandate?

Employers with 50 full-time employees or more located within the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, must offer at least one of the following options to their employees

• Pre-tax transit benefits: Employers allow employees to exclude their transit or vanpool costs from taxable income, up to the federal limit. The federal limit in 2024 is $315 a month.

• Employer-provided transit, transit pass, or vanpool subsidy: At least $75/month that covers the monthly cost of the employee’s commute. 

• Employer-provided transit: The employer provides a free or low-cost bus, shuttle, or vanpool service for employees.

• Alternative commute benefit:  An alternative commuter benefit that reduces single occupancy commuting and encourages a mix options program including transit, biking, carpool and limited telework. 

• Telework: A company policy allowing telework one or more days a week for all employees who can do their work remotely.

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What about local city benefits ordinances?

Several cities within the Bay Area have their own benefit mandates on top of the regional requirement, including:

• City & County of San Francisco: 20 or more employees nationwide 
• San Francisco International Airport: 20 or more employees nationwide 
• City of Berkeley: 10 or more employees nationwide 
• City of Richmond: 10 or more employees nationwide 

If employers in these cities don’t meet their local requirements to offer transit benefits, they must still follow the Bay Area Program if they have 50+ employees.

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Who can help set up a commuter benefits program?

The Bay Area has a wide variety of Transportation Management Associations–or TMAs–that can help employers. TMAs are “member-controlled organizations that provide transportation services in a particular area, such as a commercial district, mall, medical center or industrial park.” TMAs in the Bay Area include:

Alameda TMA 

Bishop Ranch Transportation Management Association 

Contra Costa Center Transit Village 

Emeryville TMA 

Hacienda Business Park 

Mission Bay TMA 

Moffett Business Park TMA 

North Bayshore/Mountain View TMA 

Palo Alto TMA 

San Mateo Rail Corridor Association TMA 

TMA of San Francisco

Many employers within TMAs still appreciate the additional time and cost savings of working with a third party benefits administrator. Jawnt is always available to discuss implementing a commuter benefits program at your organization. Drop us a line here!

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How do I register my company’s commuter benefits program?

Registering your benefits and maintaining compliance is easy. 

1. Designate a commuter benefits coordinator.
2. Maintain records that show when the program was implemented, how it was communicated to employees, how many employees are enrolled, and what benefits your company is offering.
3. Register by going to 511.org and clicking on “Commuter Benefits Program”. Complete the on-line registration process.
4. Annually update your registration at 511.org. 

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What transit benefits do Bay Area employees most want?

To meet the minimum requirement of the mandate, employers only need to give their employees the option to set aside their own payroll funds for transit. But many employers chose to do more.

Popular transit benefit offerings include:

• Providing a monthly transit pass to whichever transit agency best serves each employee’s work location. A company with offices in Walnut Creek and San Jose might offer high-value BART tickets available to Walnut Creek employees and monthly VTA and Caltrain passes for San Jose employees.
• Subsidize the transit pass. Employees can receive up to $315 a month in transit benefit pre-tax, and this can be in a combination from their own paycheck or from the employer as a subsidy.
• Though the Bay Area has dozens of transit agencies, the Clipper Card works flexibly across all of them. Employees can transfer their pre-tax transit funds to their Clipper Card and ride whatever system works for them, without admins having to wrangle individual agency rules.
• VTA, Caltrain, Muni, and AC Transit also have special institutional passes with special rules and bulk employer discounts.
• BART is also currently piloting a new and exciting regional employer pass called BayPass.

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What transit benefits are available through Jawnt in the San Francisco Bay Area?

• Clipper Card stored value (equivalent to cash)
• BART high value discount tickets
• Muni monthly and daily passes
• AC Transit monthly local and express passes
• SamTrans adult passes
• VTA adult passes
• Caltrain monthly passes for all zones
• Vine monthly passes
• SolTrans monthly passes
• FAST monthly passes
• Vacaville City Coach monthly passes
• Wheels monthly passes
• WestCAT local and Lynx monthly passes
• Tri Delta Transit monthly passes
• East Bay Regional monthly passes
• Sonoma Transit monthly passes
• SMART monthly passes
• Santa Rosa CityBus monthly passes
• Union City Transit monthly passes
• BayWheels bikeshare annual memberships
• Transit App memberships
• Unagi scooter rentals

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Want to learn more?

Jawnt’s team of transit planners and benefit administrators are available to help you understand your options, requirements, and find a solution that will satisfy employers and employees alike. Drop us a line today to get started.

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