State Program Offers Free Carpool Support | Allegro, Hanover Insurance among local employers taking advantage of the free resource
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Gas prices may not be up above $4 a gallon like they were in 2008, but they are steadily creeping higher.
Meanwhile, many companies have had to reduce pay or eliminate annual raises because of overall economic pressure.
That price pressure is making carpooling or public transportation more desirable. But how can an employer help encourage its employees to organize carpools? Or more importantly, what’s in it for the business?
Plenty, according to the Central Massachusetts businesses that have partnered with MassRIDES, a division within the Massachusetts Department of Transporta
tion that works with employers and residents to cut down on commuting costs as well as lower the impact of cars on the environment.
Companies can partner with MassRIDES at no cost. In return, they can bring in MassRIDES experts to educate employees about the benefits of ride-sharing, using public transportation or biking to work.
Green Ride
Stephen Mahoney, outreach coordinator for MassRIDES, said there are 47 Central Massachusetts businesses currently partnered with the organization.
One of those local businesses is Worcester-based Hanover Insurance Group, which sees its work with MassRIDES as just one part of a larger “green strategy,” according to Jay Johnson, vice president of corporate real estate at the insurer.
Hanover, which has its headquarters on Lincoln Street, brings MassRIDES in once a quarter to educate employees about finding cheaper, more environmentally friendly ways to get to work, according to Bob McGinnity, manager for safety and security for the insurer. They set up an information table near the cafeteria where employees can learn about carpooling options as well as register in the MassRIDES “TripMatch” database, which helps pair up people who have similar commutes. In total, there are 17,000 people registered in the statewide database.
Offering services like the MassRIDES database is not only a nice thing to do, according to Johnson. It’s also a necessity to attract and retain Generation Y employees.
“We’ve hired a large number of college recruits and as a result, the interest in sustainability and stewardship of the environment has increased dramatically here,” said Johnson.
Another local company and long-term partner with MassRIDES is Allegro Microsystems, a manufacturer headquartered in the Great Brook Valley section of Worcester.
About 120 of Allegro’s 500 employees have registered for Allegro’s proprietary ride match database, according to Don Alger, senior environmental engineer for Allegro. Of those, about 60 are actively carpooling while another 60 are interested in finding matches. Alger said there are also employees registered through the much larger MassRIDES database.
Like Hanover Insurance, the major driver for Allegro’s commitment to promoting ride-sharing is its commitment to environmental management.
“One of the things that we have in our goals is to try to help make our employees aware of how they can be more environmentally responsible here at work or even at home,” he said. “So, part of that is encouraging people to carpool.”
Alger also reported that interest in carpooling has increased over his 15 years at Allegro. Part of that, he said, comes from the increase in gas prices, as well as increased promotion through the partnership with MassRIDES.
“I think people are just generally more environmentally aware than they have been,” he said.
Employees that register with MassRIDES are also eligible for a free emergency cab ride home in the event that a carpool partner has to leave work early, according to Mahoney.
Employers can also turn to MassRIDES for guidance on the various federal tax benefits around ride-sharing and public transportation. For example, an employer can underwrite the cost of an employees’ transit or vanpool commuting costs up to $230 per employee, per month and deduct that cost as a business expense. Under that scenario, the employee does not have to pay payroll or income taxes on the $230 benefit. Or, employers can arrange through payroll for an employee to set aside pre-tax dollars to purchase transit passes and pay vanpool fares up to $230 monthly.
For more information on the MassRIDES program, visit www.commute.com.
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