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View Current Events →Member Benefits
CommuteSMART Seacoast is a Transportation Management Association (TMA) that works with employers to ease commuting challenges and reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. We promote carpooling/vanpooling, transit, bus, biking or walking to work, and teleworking.
Membership is free and open to any employer in the greater Seacoast region of New Hampshire. Download a membership application and join today to enhance your reputation as an environmentally and worker friendly employer!
THE PERKS
Enjoy the cost savings
- Your employees are not stuck in traffic and stressed out. Instead they are at work and improving your bottom line.
- Reduced payroll taxes and commuting costs put money in your employees’ pockets.
- Increased productivity (which translates into real cost savings)
- IRS regulations allow you to reduce your payroll expenses and allow your employees to use pre-tax dollars to purchase transit or vanpool fare media.
Enjoy the benefits
- Decreased absenteeism
- Improved employee morale and well-being
- Improved employee retention
- Enhanced recruitment with a larger applicant pool (people like having commuting options)
- Increased environmental stewardship by reducing traffic congestion and air pollution
- Improved physical health from bicycling or walking
CommuteSMART Seacoast’s free services:
- Confidential, no obligation online carpool and vanpool matching service for employees
- On-site promotional events and materials about carpooling, bicycling/walking, transit, and teleworking
- Personal commute planning – face-to-face, phone or email consultation to help an employee find commute options
- Surveying and analyzing employee transportation patterns and needs
- Emergency Ride Home Program – registered commuters are eligible to receive reimbursement for up to 6 taxi or Uber rides a year if an emergency occurs during work or a carpool driver has an emergency
- Quarterly e-newsletter
- Regional commuter events and contests (e.g. “B2B”, “Conquer the Cold”)
- Workshops (e.g. bike safety, bike maintenance)
- Advocating on regional transportation issues
- Roundtables on topics of common concern to members
Join commuteSMART
CommuteSMART Seacoast members agree to:
- Designate a commuteSMART Seacoast representative to be point of contact
- Be listed in our published roster of members
- Participate in regional sustainable commuting campaigns when applicable (e.g. “Seacoast B2B Commuter Challenge”, “Bike/Walk to Work Week”).
- Invite commuteSMART Seacoast staff to hold or participate in an internal promotional event (e.g. sustainability or transportation fair, table at lunch room, health fair, etc.) when applicable
- Internally promote internal event via provided sample email and poster
- Distribute or display alternative transportation informational materials
To join, click here to download the new member form.
CommuteSMART Seacoast is funded by the federal Department of Transportation and the New Hampshire Turnpike Authority. Sponsored by COAST (Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation).
Contact Angela Cleveland, Principal Planner at Strafford Regional Planning Commission, to join today. It’s free!
acleveland@strafford.org
603-994-3500 x. 104
Emergency Ride Home Program
One of the main reasons people are hesitant to try alternative commute options is the fear of becoming stranded at work or being unable to get home or to a loved one in the event of an emergency. The Emergency Ride Home program takes the fear out of leaving one’s car at home. Read more about the guidelines by clicking the tab above.
We’ve got you covered!
CommuteSMARTseacoast’s Emergency Ride Home (ERH) is your safety net if an emergency arises during work. Registered commuters who use a carpool, vanpool, bus, train, bicycle, or walk to work are eligible. All you need to do is take a taxi or rental car and submit your receipt and reimbursement form.
Who can use ERH?
You must be enrolled in ERH via the commuteSMARTseacoast website and work for a Seacoast NH employer who is a member (membership is free).
You area eligible if: 1) you work for an commuteSMARTseacoast member employer 2) you commuted to work by carpool, vanpool, bus, train, bicycle, or walked on the day of the emergency. 3) you registered in the commuteSMARTseacoast rideshare database.
Qualified emergencies:
- Unexpected personal illness or emergency
- Unexpected family illness or emergency
- Carpool/vanpool driver has an illness, emergency, or unscheduled overtime
- Potentially dangerous weather (bicyclists and walkers only)
Please note the following do not qualify as emergencies:
- Rides to work
- Personal errands or pre-planned appointments during the workday
- Scheduled overtime
- On-the-job injury
- Transit system failures
- Vehicle failure
- Building closings
Allowable destinations:
- Home
- Park and Ride lot or where your car is parked
- Child’s day care or school
- Medical facility
- Interim stops are acceptable if they are part of the emergency
How to get there:
- Taxi
- Rental car
- Uber or Lyft
ERH Trip Allowance
You may submit up to six (6) requests per 12 month period, no more than two (2) in any month, for a maximum reimbursement of $90 per occurrence.
Steps to follow
- Arrange for emergency transportation (transit, taxi or rental car)
- Take the trip and pay
- Submit your paperwork for reimbursement
Reimbursement details:
Submit your request for reimbursement within 10 business days of the emergency to info@commuteSMARTseacoast.org, or fax to 743-5786. Receipt must be attached to the ERH form signed by your employer. Upon receipt, you will receive a check in 10 business days.
Telework & Alternative Work Schedule
Telework or alternative work schedule options provide numerous benefits to employees, employers and the community.
The benefits include:
- Greater employee productivity and work quality
- Increased ability to attract and keep valued employees
- Improved employee morale and job satisfaction
- Continuity of work during emergency or bad weather
- Increased access to new labor markets (disabled, part-time, semi-retired)
- Less sick leave and reduced absenteeism
- Reduced office and parking space needs
- Employees feel more sense of responsibility and trust
- More lifestyle flexibility, less commuting time and expense for employees
Additional information:
North Carolina Telework Toolkit
Telework Toolkit (State of Washington)
Telework Webinar (Spare the Air Employer Program)
Tax Benefits
There are employer and employee tax benefits for riding transit, vanpooling or bicycling to work. Click here to learn more!
