If you’re a shift-based worker in Washington, DC, the amount of money you need to spend on transit each month can be wildly inconsistent. Unlike a traditional 9-to-5 commuter who pays the same fare each day, your costs fluctuate depending on the number of shifts you’re working and when they fall throughout the week, due to WMATA’s unique peak and off-peak pricing.

The Fare Gap: Peak vs. Off-Peak Pricing

For WMATA riders, there’s a stark difference in fares based on time of travel. Peak weekday fares can climb as high as $6.75 one-way, while weekend and off-peak fares drop to just $2.50. For shift-based workers with varying schedules – such as those in hospitality, healthcare, and retail – this means unpredictable commuting costs from month to month.

One month, a worker may have more weekend shifts, spending significantly less on transit, while they would spend much more commuting in another month heavy with weekday shifts.

How Traditional Commuter Benefits Fall Short

Traditional commuter benefits programs, which operate on fixed monthly deductions, do not account for these fluctuations. If workers don't set aside enough money one month, they could lose out on the pre-tax benefit for their commutes. The next month, they may waste their earnings by taking too much out of their paycheck.

The average shift-based worker in DC saves roughly 25% in taxes when using pre-tax transit funds to ride WMATA. This presents a clear monetary incentive to elect into the benefit. However, it may not make sense for shift-based workers to opt into traditional commuter benefits programs with fixed monthly deductions when there’s so much guesswork involved.

Fixed monthly deductions fail to align with the realities of shift work, leading to:

• Over-deductions: Workers might allocate too much pre-tax income and struggle to reclaim unused funds.
• Cash flow strain: Unnecessary deductions reduce take-home pay, impacting financial stability.
• Misaligned on shift schedule released & deduction deadlines: By the time most workers get their shift schedule for the following month, the deadline to make any changes to pre-tax transit elections has passed.

Example: A server commutes to the Navy Yard

Consider Monica, who lives in the Washington, DC suburb of Arlington and commutes to her job as a server at a hip eatery in the Navy Yard. Monica’s manager posts the team’s monthly schedule about a week before the end of each month. While this is typical for shift managers, the schedule usually isn’t posed until the staff’s deadline to edit pre-tax commuter benefit elections has passed.

Each month, Monica has to give her best as to how much money she’ll need for the following months’ commute. Even if she knows the number of days she’ll need, her commute costs vary by time of day and day of week. And, if Monica has to call out or pick up an extra shift, she has no way to adapt her benefit to her actual commute needs.

One month, Monica lucks out: She’s scheduled for the dinner shifts from Thursday through Sunday each week. These are prime shifts for tips—and also offer a cheaper commute.

The next month, Monica isn’t so lucky: She’s assigned the weekday lunch crowd, Monday through Friday. This puts her commute in the middle of the peak commute window, so she ends up spending more on transit.

This month, Monica will end up spending $216 to work the same number of hours and days. That’s 90% more than the month before!

Jawnt’s Dynamic Deductions: The Smarter Way to Save

For shift-based workers, committing to a fixed deduction amount each month is a gamble. This is where Jawnt’s Dynamic Deductions provide a much-needed solution, ensuring that commutes are always covered with the minimum income deduction for workers.

Unlike traditional programs, Jawnt’s approach adapts to each worker’s actual transit spending:

• Set a Maximum Wallet Amount: Employees can establish a cap on their pre-tax transit benefits.
• Only Pay for What You Use: Instead of a fixed deduction, Jawnt only deducts the amount needed to “top-up” back to the maximum wallet amount each month.
• Smarter Employer Subsidies: If employers offer transit subsidies, they only apply to the necessary “top-up” amount, ensuring funds are used efficiently.

It’s time for employers who care about employee financial well-being to rethink outdated and ineffective commuter benefits. Jawnt’s Dynamic Deductions provide a fair, flexible, and cost-effective way to ensure every worker gets the most from their pre-tax benefits.

Want to learn more? Connect with us today to explore how Dynamic Deductions can transform your commuter benefits program.