Transit commute benefits can be a highly effective tool for supporting employees, students, residents, and others to shift their travel away from single occupancy cars and onto transit. Many organizations solicit interest from potential commuter benefit providers through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process. RFPs are a great way to lay out your organization’s needs and hear how multiple vendors would approach solving them. The more specific and informed the request, the easier it will be to sort out the strongest candidates.

Jawnt encourages organizations preparing RFPs for transit commute benefits to weigh the following considerations as they gather their requests.

Product Features and Capabilities

Beyond pre-tax. Many commuter benefit platforms are limited to opportunities enabled by the federal IRS code, and allow only traditional pre-tax parking and transit benefits up to specified amounts. Does the platform support:

• Modern post-tax mobility benefits, such as bikeshare or walking?
• Enrollments from people who are not full-time employees, such as contractors, students, or residents?
• Custom benefit subsidies, based on a percentage, a flat amount, and/or up to a specific cap, that can vary by benefit?

Ready to integrate. Some vendors prefer or are only able to work within their own suite of tools. Is the platform:

• Compatible with your existing Single Sign-On (SSO) provider? Specify how you would like your participants to login to the platform.
• Compatible with your existing payroll system? Specify in the RFP what file extensions or other formats you require.
• Compatible with your existing HR platform? How often do you want to share rosters, and in what formats? Do you have rosters coming from multiple sources?
• Compatible with your payroll schedule? Specify your employee pay periods and when deductions should occur.
• Able to produce your desired reports? Do they offer custom reports standard or for an additional fee?

Future-proof. The worlds of commutes, transit, and technology are all changing quickly. Will the platform be able to support:

• New forms of institutional pass programs from transit agencies?
• New payment technologies, such as open loop and mobile ticketing?
• Mobile wallet friendly debit cards?
• New and custom enrollment forms for each benefit and transit provider?
• Does the platform work as well on mobile devices as it does on desktops? Is it accessible for users with visual and motor disabilities?

Support and Success

• Administrative support. Beyond the sales process, can the vendor provide a reliable point of contact for your HR and payroll teams? For your transportation and parking offices?
• Customer success. What resources does the vendor provide for end users? In addition to self-serve support articles, are they available by chat, email, and phone? What are their support hours? Do they provide support in Spanish? Do they have someone on call who’s local and familiar enough with the local transportation options to advise and encourage a new transit rider?
• Onboarding support. Can the vendor participate in the onboarding activities your team wants to plan? Are they willing to join webinars? Are they available to attend in-person tabling events? Do they have their our outreach materials to offer?

Company Ethos

Is this a company that’s focused on checking boxes or are they meaningfully helping to shift commute behavior? Do they have:

• Data from past deployments showing increased participation, enrollment, and utilization?
• An emphasis on providing transit passes, rather than pre-tax funds that employees need to manage themselves?
• High satisfaction scores from both administrators and members?
• Strong relationships with transit agencies?

Are you preparing or considering an RFP? We'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. You can reach our team here.

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