Free Ride

Civil servants in the Washington, D.C., area can ride the Metro to work and take home an extra $1,320 a year -- thanks to an environmentally conscious former boss.

On Earth Day in 2000, President Clinton issued an executive order subsidizing mass transit for federal workers around Washington, D.C., to cut down on pollution from driving. Back then, the subsidy was worth $780 a year; this month, the Internal Revenue Service announced the 2007 maximum would be $110 a month.

That's a 4.8 percent increase over the 2006 subsidy of $105 a month, or $1,260 for the year, for feds who ditch their cars.

It's no wonder Murray Bond, director of marketing and sales at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, estimates that close to half of riders during rush hour are federal employees. Outgoing Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., a champion of the benefit, estimates that 110,000 employees had joined the transit program by 2001.

Most agency heads read Clinton's executive order to mean that everyone in the Washington area is entitled to the subsidy, but the Labor Department refused to raise its subsidy from the original $65 for many years.

After much wrangling, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 12 declared victory last year when the department brought the subsidy up to $100 and again this month when management conceded to the new limit, $105. Shortly thereafter, the IRS announced its increase, and the union is likely to head back to the bargaining table.

For the many federal workers who live outside the D.C. area, not all hope is lost. Employees in the Social Security Administration's San Francisco regional office, for example, can receive up to $60 a month in transit subsidies for using the Bay Area Rapid Transportation system to get to work. In North Carolina's Research Triangle, Environmental Protection Agency employees can take home the full $110 a month.

The Defense Department issued a memo in October 2000 instructing components around the country to offer employees the same transit subsidy that's offered in Washington.

"As the largest federal employer in many metropolitan areas around the nation," former Deputy Defense Secretary Rudy de Leon said, "we believe the Department of Defense should be a model employer and take appropriate action necessary to reduce the traffic congestion and air pollution that affect so many areas."

There are a couple of rules to follow in order to get the free ride. Employees can't use the subsidy for nonwork travel, such as Metro rides around the city on weekends. They must calculate their actual commuting costs and ask for that amount in transit cards. If they receive the benefit ahead of time and then leave the agency, they have to pay back the unused portion. The benefit isn't taxable as wages. And of course, employees have to fill out the requisite paperwork to participate.

Kimberly Palmer contributed to this column.