Transit commuters enjoyed parity with those who drive to work when the pre-tax benefits for transit and parking were equalized earlier this year. Like drivers, transit commuters were able to use up to $245 in pre-tax earnings to pay for transit passes. But, unfortunately for transit commuters, that parity will expire at the end of this year. Beginning January 1, 2014, transit users will only be able to use up to $130 in pre-tax earnings for their commute. The pre-tax benefit for commuters who drive to work and must pay for parking, on the other hand, will increase by $5 to $250.
Conventional wisdom has long suggested that the reason parity for the transit commuter benefit lacks support in Congress is because transit commuters who spend more than $130 on monthly transit fares live in only a handful of major metro areas like New York, Chicago, Washington and Boston.
But thankfully for transit riders, that conventional wisdom is wrong.
There are at least 24 transit systems — used by commuters who live in 20 different states and the District of Columbia — where commuters spend more than $130 each month on transit passes:
- MTA Metro-North (New York City, downstate New York, southwestern Connecticut) $167-$500
- Metrolink (Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino) $122 – $481.25
- MTA Long Island Rail Road (New York City and Long Island) $177 -$466
- NJ Transit (New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlantic City) $55-$440
- MBTA Commuter Rail (Boston, eastern Massachusetts, Providence) $170 – $345
- Caltrain (San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Jose) $73 – $338
- NICTD/South Shore Line (Chicago, northwest Indiana, South Bend) $98.25 – $331.50
- Altamont Corridor Express (Stockton, San Jose) $137.50 – $330
- MARC (Baltimore, Washington, Maryland, West Virginia) $100 – $330
- Virginia Railway Express (Washington, northern Virginia) $85.30 – $305.90
- Metra (Chicago, northeast Illinois, Kenosha) $78.25 – $263.50
- WMATA Metro (Washington, Maryland, northern Virginia) $230
- Utah Transit Authority (Salt Lake City, Provo) $83 – $198
- Shore Line East (southeastern Connecticut) $57 – $198
- SEPTA (Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania,Wilmington) $101 – $191
- Sound Transit (Seattle, Tacoma) $18 – $189
- Regional Transportation District (Denver) $79 – $176
- RTA-MT Music City Star (Nashville, Lebanon) $64-$168
- Coaster (San Diego, Oceanside) $120 – $165
- Charlotte Area Transit System (Charlotte) $160
- Dallas Area Rapid Transit (Dallas, Fort Worth) $160
- CT Transit (Connecticut) $151
- Port Authority of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) $97.50 – $146.25
- Tri-Rail (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach) $145
With commuters in 20 states being affected, and two Senators in each state, we know that at least 40 of 100 Senators have constituents who will be affected by the slashing of the transit benefit. Tri-State dug a little deeper to see how many members of the House of Representatives have constituents who could be paying $131 or more for their monthly transit commute. As it turns out, it’s not just a handful. There are 135 congressional districts (32 of which are represented by Republicans) that are served by these 24 transit systems, which accounts for 31 percent of the House’s 435 members.
I think it would make more sense to reduce/eliminate the parking benefit than to increase the transit benefit. The longer, more expensive commutes on transit tend to encourage sprawl by offsetting the cost of the long commutes in a manner similar to the way the parking benefit encourages long commutes.
Reducing the parking benefit may also encourage more people to try transit. There will, of course, be some lower income individuals forced to commute long distances hurt by either not raising the transit benefit or cutting the parking benefit; but I think the number being hurt will be much small and the overall benefit to the public will be large.
Here is a second for the notion that the transit industry should be working for parity of the transit and parking benefit at a lower dollar level. Parity is more important than raising the transit benefit to $230 and lowering the parking benefit may bring more new riders to transit systems.
In this political environment in Congress asking for parity at a dollar value of $175 or so would be a stronger position that pushing for getting the transit benefit up to $230. There are only 12 systems with fares over $230 a month. Eleven are commuter railroads with generally affluent riders plus the Washington system that is a blend of commuter rail and subway with a distance-based fare structure.
Encourages long commutes? How many of the people with long commutes can actually afford to live closer in? Wow! For many of those on Long Island lucky enough to still have decent jobs in NYC, commuting costs have gone up at far higher rates than inflation, while salaries have barely budged or even gone down. Property taxes have also skyrocketed. So sure, cut the subsidy for drivers, but most of those doing long transit commutes are badly hurting money wise, and this tax discrepancy doesn’t help.
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Less subsidies to Metro North for NYS(Westchester Co, et al.) & SW Connecticut, and LIRR. Looks like means-testing to me.
Add to this list virtually everybody who uses more than one transit agency on their daily commute: PATH+NYC Subway, NJT Bus/Light Rail+PATH, PATCO+SEPTA, NJT Bus/Light Rail+PATCO, AC Transit+BART, BART+Muni, etc. etc.
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You seem to be forgetting that the parking benefit only covers about 50% of the parking cost and zero of the tolls. I drive to Secaucus from Rockland, Park (which costs 395$/month) and then take the train to Midtown (115$/month).
Either way you look at it these “benefits” need to be rehauled to be variable based on the COL of the tax payer. =/
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