Bicyclists gain benefits from bailout plan

By Amanda Thompson

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Gillian Armstrong’s bike has been her primary mode of transportation for about four years.

Armstrong, Manhattan senior, said she rode to work, to class and often to run errands.

“It’s good exercise for one thing,” Armstrong said. “You don’t have to pay for gas, and it’s better for the environment.”

The federal government is giving people like Armstrong a new incentive to ride their bikes. Attached to the bailout plan that passed on Oct. 3, the Bicycle Commuter Act went into effect Jan. 1. Under the Act, employees could receive $20 per month incentive to ride their bicycles to work. Lawrence businesses are now working to take advantage of the Act.

Andy Clark, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists, said the passage of the Act was a relief for his organization. The Act had been in front of Congress for seven years.

“We were delighted with that,” Clark said. “Now we’ve been working to figure out what it really means and how it will actually be implemented.”

Clark said there were three different ways in which employers could use the Act to benefit their employees.

He said a business could decide to give employees $20 per month, writing off the extra expense as a tax deduction. A second option for businesses would be to offer the employee $20 per month with no tax benefit to the company or the employee.

Clark said government agencies and non-profit organizations would be the most likely to use this option. He said he planned on implementing this for his own employees.

“We don’t get any benefit except that our employees will be happy that we’re doing it,” Clark said.

The third option is for businesses to give employees the option to take $20 per month off their pay and have it paid pre-tax into a card or voucher they can redeem to help with the cost of upkeep for their bicycles.

Clark said he encouraged people to get in touch with the human resource departments of their employers to take advantage of the benefit. Merrill Steele, senior lock systems specialist, did just that.

Steele said he had been an avid bicyclist for decades, and contacted the director of human resources at the University, Ola Faucher, to ask about the possibility of University participation in the Act. He said he was disappointed when Faucher said the benefit was not available to state employees, including people employed by the University.

“The state of Kansas was unable to offer the pre-tax benefit to its employees because the benefits plan for the state had already been finalized when the act was formalized,” Faucher said in an e-mail. “We are hopeful they may consider the benefit in the plan next year, but that doesn’t begin until January 2010.”

Steele said he encouraged other University employees to e-mail Faucher to express interest in participating in the program.

“To me this is not about the $20 a month,” Steele said. “It’s the principle of the thing.”

According to the League of American Bicyclists, 40 percent of all car trips are within two miles of people’s homes. The organization also said 60 percent of pollution from automobiles happened in the first few minutes of operation because it took more power to start a car than it did to keep it running.

Dan Hughes, owner of Sunflower Outdoor and Bike, said he first heard about the Act at the National Bicycle Summit last March. Hughes said he was waiting to hear back from his accountant about the possibility of setting up the program for his employees.

“We have about 80 to 95 percent of the staff ride their bikes to work no matter what anyway,” Hughes said. “We’re already doing it. I just need to figure out a way to reward employees for it.”

Hughes said the $20 per month incentive is small compared to the importance of getting people out of their cars and on bicycles.

— — Edited by Andrew Wiebe

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