Edenred Commuter Benefits™, a leading provider of commuter benefits, announces the acquisition of the RideECO Commuter Benefit Program from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC).
For the past 29 years, RideECO has been the leading Commuter Benefits program in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, providing employers with transit benefits for several agencies in the region: SEPTA, PATCO, NJ Transit, DART First State, Capital Area Transit and Amtrak.
The RideECO program allows employers and commuters to save on public transportation and vanpools fares using pre-tax dollars. Currently, hundreds of employers representing thousands of employees participate in RideECO. Now with Edenred Commuter Benefits, employers who offer RideEco will have access to a larger range of benefits including parking, UberPool and Lyft Shared as well as micro mobility services such as Bike Sharing and Scooters.
Edenred Commuter Benefits has been a long-time partner of the RideECO program, handling the order fulfillment for employers, and distribution for RideECO. Edenred Commuter Benefits also operates its own commuter benefit program with many of the same options RideECO offers, and more. In addition, Edenred Commuter Benefits programs are offered and promoted across the country. As commuting needs are changing and evolving, DVRPC believes this is an opportune time to fold the regional RideECO program into a broader program with a national scope.
Ed Fleischmann, CEO of Edenred Commuter Benefits, said: “As a company with a proven track record of success providing transit and parking solutions for thousands of employees nationwide, we’re excited to gain direct market access to important regions of Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware. We have a long-standing relationship with DVRPC and consider ourselves true partners. We are familiar with RideEco and look forward to bringing our wide breadth of experience and knowledge in managing this program to both employers and their employees in the region.”
Barry Seymour, DVRPC Executive Director, said: “We have valued the close working relationship we’ve had with Edenred Commuter Benefits over the years and are confident that Edenred will continue to serve RideECO clients well. New clients will also be in good hands as more employers add this program to their menu of employee benefit. The ultimate goal of commuter benefits is to encourage and reward more use of transit and vanpools as a way to commute to and from work, which helps alleviate traffic and improve our air quality in this region, and this will continue to be accomplished through Edenred.”
While this transition will take place over the next few months, not much will change for current RideECO clients, except for the program’s name and look. In fact, there will be several new advantages for employers and commuters:
• Employers will save even more money with Edenred Commuter Benefits
• Additionally, employers can take advantage of a parking benefit, for those employees who must drive to work
• Employees will have access to ride share programs including UberPool and Lyft Shared
• Employees will also be able to select a non-personalized, pre-loaded card to pay for transit and vanpool fares, in addition to the current personalized card and other fare media available
• Employers and commuters who are using RideECO will have a seamless transition to the new order and customer service platforms
Commuter benefit programs have many advantages. They can:
• Save money – Employees save when they use RideECO by using pre-tax dollars to pay for their transit and vanpool costs — in excess of $900 a year on their commute costs. And, employers can save more than $230 per participating employee on FICA taxes each year.
• Help the environment – Employees who commute by transit are also helping to improve the region’s air quality, by reducing emissions associated with driving alone to work.
• Encourage transit ridership – Commuter benefit programs boost transit ridership in Greater Philadelphia. A recent survey showed that almost 20% of new RideECO users are new public transit users, and 65% of those new riders make 10+ trips/week. Many program participants say they shifted to using monthly passes vs. individual tickets or tokens.
Both RideECO and Edenred Commuter Benefits offer the benefit in a variety of ways, including vouchers, fare materials and stored value cards. Both programs have a premium option best suited for larger companies, that eases an employer’s administration of the program and allows for direct distribution of the benefit to employees’ homes. RideECO and Edenred products are accepted as payment for fares on all major transit providers and vanpool services in the region and beyond.
We are working hard at Edenred Commuter Benefits to ensure that our clients and their employees are receiving the very best customer support and service offered. We want our clients to know that we are all in this together.
Learn more about RideECO and Edenred Commuter Benefits at www.RideECO.org and www.commuterbenefits.com.
About Edenred Commuter Benefits
Edenred Commuter Benefits’ mission is to make tax-free commuter benefits an essential part of employee benefits packages nationwide. The company provides a one-stop total solution experience, from a nationwide commuter benefits program for employers to a private label program for third party administrators.
We serve more than 12,000 employers representing over 10 million employees, including many Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies like Boeing, USPS, Merck, Qualcomm, The City of New York and more. We also maintain partnerships with over 50 national third party administrators, more than 350 transit agencies, hundreds of bike shops, and over 5,000 parking locations.
If you want to learn more about commuter benefits, download the 101 Guide below:
