Department of Administrative Services Human Resources

The Employee Commuter Choice Parking Program is a voluntary employee benefit program, which facilitates the pre-tax payment of eligible parking and transit expenses for program participants, who pay to park their vehicle while at work or who use public transportation or vanpools. The program allows eligible state employees to save money by paying for these expenses using pre-tax dollars, as allowed by Internal Revenue Code 132, which provides for Qualified Transportation Benefit (QTB) Programs. No federal, state, school district income taxes, or Medicare tax will be withheld from the pre-tax amount of participants’ eligible commuting expenses, so you will save money each month you participate in the program.

Click the links below to access the information you need quickly.

How the Program Works

Eligible Expenses

FBMC Web site Access

Payroll Deductions

Administrative Fees

Other Questions

Customer Service Contacts

How the Program Works
The Commuter Choice program includes two types of commuting expenses:

• Transportation expenses, which include qualified fares for riding buses, trains, subways, ferries and other types of mass transportation, or vanpools.
• Parking expenses which include the cost of parking at or near your place of work or at or near a place from which you commute to work by mass transit, such as a park-and-ride lot.

When you enroll in Commuter Choice for eligible transportation expenses, you are authorizing the third-party administrator, Fringe Benefits Management Company (FBMC), to purchase your public transportation fare passes (i.e. bus pass) and vanpool passes, directly from your transportation provider.

The 2009 IRS monthly allowable dollar limit for transit is $230. When you enroll for the Commuter Choice transit benefit, the fare pass will be delivered directly to your home address.

The 2009 IRS monthly allowable dollar limit for parking is $230. When you enroll for the Commuter Choice parking benefit, FBMC will pay your parking service directly.

Should your parking and/or transit expenses exceed the IRS monthly allowable dollar limit, you may have additional dollars withheld on an after-tax basis to pay your expenses that exceed the IRS dollar limit.

Eligible Expenses
The majority of costs you incur from your residence to work or from work to your residence, for public transportation (i.e. mass transit) or vanpools and for parking are considered eligible commuting expenses under IRS regulations. Commuting expenses must represent your normal commute between your residence and your work location.

FBMC Web site Access
The Fringe Benefits Management Company (FBMC) web site provides more information about the Employee Commuter Choice Parking and Transit Program. Existing program participants also access the site to make changes in their current benefits and utilize other web site resources.

Eligible employees who wish to start participating in the Commuter Choice Program may do so by accessing the FBMC Web site at www.myfbmc.com. Employees will be prompted to enter their e-mail address and password. New participants should enter their e-mail address and select the hyperlink entitled “new user,” which is located under the password section. Once login is complete, the tab at the top of the participant home page entitled “accounts” should be selected. Select “My QTB” from the drop-down box. Options on the QTB (qualified transportation benefit) web page will provide existing participants the opportunity to review information materials, review account information and make changes.

The page also provides prospective participants the opportunity to enroll in the program. The monthly cut-off day for new enrollments and account maintenance is the fifth day of the month. For example, a prospective participant may enroll by May 5 for benefits to become effective June 1.

Payroll Deductions

Payroll Deduction Dates for Commuter Choice Program Participants

For employees on the monthly current payroll schedule, the pay date is always the last weekday of the month.  For employees on the bi-weekly payroll schedule, the following dates apply:
 

Administrative Fees
The monthly administrative fee for parking is $4.79 on an “after-tax” basis. The monthly administrative fee for transit is $4.79 on an “after- tax” basis.

Other Questions?
Visit the FBMC website at www.myfbmc.com. Select the “Qualified Transportation Benefit” link under the category entitled FAQs. The web page, which displays will provide answers to many commonly asked questions.

Customer Service Contacts
Should you have a question not answered in the FAQs section, contact FBMC’s Customer Service Unit at (800) 342-8017. Customer Service Representatives are available 7a.m. – 10p.m. EST, Monday through Friday. Representatives are knowledgeable about enrollments, elections, eligibility, ordering, cut off dates, and IRS regulations.