My workplace is not government and they pay the bus company for transporting their employees from outlying parking and ride lots around the city. We just have to show our company ID. I don’t know how well the driver tracks numbers though the company may just have a set amount they pay per month.
The reason they provide this is there is not enough parking for all their employees (20000+)most of whom work during the day, even though they have two outlying employee lots with shuttles (running from about 5am-8pm, provided by the same company) and allot of employees lots and ramps on campus, thus they encourage employees to park at park and rides and take the bus.
They also encourage employees to use buses coming in from towns further out. For those buses they employee pays some of the expense. my understanding is the commuter buses are getting really full. One line just added an earlier bus and riders from another community are trying to get another bus added to their route since the current one is now standing room only. If the price of gas stays high the number riding the buses will probably only increase, these buses are already having standing room only as they get closer to the city. Will be interesting to see how much bus service increases now.
The company I have also has a guaranteed ride home, if you miss your ride because of work reasons and there are no more buses they will take you to your car if in an outer area or actually give you a ride home. Haven’t heard of anyone who has used it, I think that may be something used more by nursing.
Thats wonderful for its employees, and is not a handout because the cost for the fringe benefit is figured in to the bottom line. They still have to turn a profit or go broke.
The US government is STEALING this money AT GUN POINT from me to pay for these so called "fringe bennies". They are broke but keep stealing!
You see the difference?