Analyzing the Effectiveness of Commuter Benefits Programs (2005) / Chapter Skim
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8CHAPTER 2 EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TRANSIT BENEFITS PROGRAMS Chapter 2 of this report serves as a guidebook on developing, implementing, and measuring the success of employerbased transit benefits programs. It is designed for transit agencies, commuter organizations, employers, and other stakeholders and is divided into the following four sections: • Strategic Planning and Program Evaluation -- This section discusses strategic planning for a transit benefits program at a broad level.
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9what the program ought to achieve, how it will be measured, and how systems will be set up for measuring impacts. Establishing Goals The goals for a transit benefits program should build on the mission of the organization conducting the evaluation.
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any transit agency will likely have the broad goal of increasing or maintaining ridership and revenues, there may be a wide range of objectives that help to support this goal. For example, objectives could relate to increasing employer participation or employee participation, involve various time periods (e.g., each quarter, by the end of the fiscal year, or over a three-year planning cycle)
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For example, all else being equal, one would expect that an employer that offers fully-paid transit benefits would see a larger increase in transit use than one that offers only an employee-paid, pre-tax benefit. An employer located in an area with very limited transit services would expect to see less of an increase (or no increase)
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contacts with major employers. On the other hand, if the goal is to retain existing riders, the transit agency might do most of its marketing through in-vehicle advertising and a "push-pull" strategy in which current riders create demand by asking their employers about providing transit benefits.
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• Is there more than one transit provider in the region? If there is more than one transit provider in the region, the transit agency may want to consider a voucher system, a smart card, or system that allows monthly passes to be used for multiple providers.
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consider how the program can be designed in order to best achieve goals and objectives. Agencies should consider the following questions: • What are the primary goals and objectives for our program?
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15 What it is: A pass good for unlimited rides on the transit system. Three criteria distinguish a universal pass from a regular pass: First, it is an annual pass; second, an employer is usually required to purchase a pass for every employee; third, the cost per employee is generally deeply discounted from the fare available to the general public (based on the recognition that not every employee will use the pass daily)
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programs and universal pass programs, which are seen as complementary.
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prove confusing to employers, employees, and even transit agency staff. • Should we provide a discount and, if so, how much?
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18 What it is: A stored-value card is a temporary or semipermanent card that can be used multiple times for multiple trips. The card functions like a debit card, drawing down the appropriate fare each time the card is swiped or touched to a fare machine.
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behavior when employers pay for transit benefits; therefore, requiring employers to do so will probably result in increased ridership.
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Considerations in Marketing a Transit Benefits Program Separate from the issue of how to structure the transit benefits program is how to most effectively market the program to achieve its goals and objectives. TCRP Report 87: Strategies for Increasing the Effectiveness of Commuter Benefits 20 Programs (1)
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Support Employers in Paying for Transit Benefits Because employer-paid programs tend to increase ridership more than employee-paid programs, encouraging employers to pay for transit benefits is most likely to help programs meet the goals of increasing transit ridership, reducing vehicle travel, and reducing emissions. However, because employers are reluctant to fund a benefit that employees generally pay for themselves, one solution is for the public sector to help employers fund the benefit initially, in the hope that employers will retain the benefit after the public subsidy ends.
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ridership, this type of program will still expand the base of employees using transit benefits, which can be beneficial to transit agencies. For instance, if a large number of users participate through employer programs, the programs offer the potential for reduced individual fare transaction costs and cash handling for transit agencies.
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they know that the program exists and how it works. There is a continuum of awareness ranging from people who have never heard of transit benefits to those who actively use them.
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Stakeholders such as commuter organizations and TMAs may be interested in information on employer participation in a transit benefits program, and they also will want to coordinate with the transit agency to collect this information. Along with tracking the number of employers participating in a transit benefits program, transit agencies might collect information about participating employers (perhaps in the hopes of developing a more effective marketing campaign or making adjustments to the program to better serve employer needs)
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books, etc.) redeemed per person, and use these figures to estimate the total number of recipients.
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In order to estimate whether, and to what extent, a transit benefits program increases revenues, it is important to examine the structure and pricing of the employer pass program. For example, a pay-per-ride system will result in increased revenues for each additional transit trip that employees make.
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sions analysis is going to be documented as part of a transportation conformity analysis or for emissions credit as a voluntary mobile emissions reduction program. If the analysis is to gain a sense of emissions reductions associated with a transit benefits program at a regional level, for a sub-area (like a business district)
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However, state-of-the-commute surveys have limited utility in eliciting detailed information about changes in travel behavior from transit benefits recipients. There are several reasons for this.
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survey)
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The three sampling plan designs shown in Table 3 all yield the same number of samples. However, the sampling plans become less expensive from A to C as fewer employers need to be contacted and convinced to participate.
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31 • Do respondents already have an accurate, ready-made, answer? • Can people accurately recall and report past behaviors?
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32 To be completed by employer: Organization name: _____________________________ Zip code of worksite: ____________________ Do you currently offer a transit benefit? ___ yes ___ no If yes, how is the program structured?
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33 Please take a few moments to fill out the following questions. Your responses will help us plan for future commuter programs.
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ridership because it captures people riding only occasionally. Moreover, summing and averaging the 5-day mode split for all employees accurately captures those people who ride infrequently, and therefore is better than asking only about primary commute mode ("Which one of the following modes do you use more than three times per week?
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(e.g., by asking why employees do not use transit, what problems they have experienced, and what suggestions they have for improvements)
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