Employer Commuter Grant

Employers, who encourage employees to travel to work in the Northeastern Illinois region via rideshare or public transportation, are eligible for a grant of up to $20,000 for subsidizing a qualified Employee Commuter Program. The Employer Commuter Grant is managed by Pace with funds coming through the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The aim of this grant is to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles on the road, free up valuable parking space, improve air quality and support the attraction and retention of the valuable workforce necessary to strengthen the region’s employers.

 Eligibility Requirements

The applicant must be:

• An employer in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry or Will County
• A Transportation Management Association (TMA) or business organization may also qualify

The applicant is committed to covering the up front costs for designing and running their Employee Commuter Program. This grant will cover up to 50% of the permissible expenditures incurred by the program.

Guidelines

Pace reserves the right to determine the final amount of the grant based on evaluation of the Employee Commuter Program, amount of funds available and the number of applications submitted.

Funds are available for subsiding or enhancing a qualified Employee Commuter Program or enriching an existing Employee Commuter Program for a 12-month period beginning on the date of approval. A one-year extension of the grant may be awarded for incentives only to any successful grant recipient upon review of a letter of renewal.

Permissible expenditures for the grant funds include (but not limited to):

• Incentives that increase the number of high occupancy vehicles on the road – these may include but are not limited to:
  • Oil change gift card
  • Gas cards
  • Transit passes
  • An Emergency Ride Home program
  • Pace Vanpool monthly fares
  • Raffle prizes
• Wages paid to a Transportation Coordinator - Staffing time shall not exceed 25% of the total grant request
• Marketing materials

Funds awarded are not:

• Transferable or assignable to another company or project without prior permission from Pace

• Extended to a business that relocates outside the RTA six-county area during the grant period

• For use as a reward to cover employee’s salary for paid day(s) off from work

• Intended for capital improvements

Pace reviews continually and does not, at this time, propose an application deadline. Applications will be accepted with the goal of expending the grant.  Applications will be processed within 10 – 14 business days of receipt.

Reimbursement Process

Eligible expenses will be reimbursed at a rate of 50%. Reimbursement is dependent upon approval of detailed accounting and receipts for eligible expenditures.

Pace requires that you submit your Monthly Progress Report by the 10th of each month for the previous months activities. Failure to meet the monthly deadline on the 10th could result in early termination of your grant.

Applicants must submit a Monthly Progress Report:

• Submit monthly paid expenditures including time allocations and task descriptions to Pace electronically including scanned receipts for items purchased. Note that the employer is required to keep the original receipts for a two-year period following the end of the employer’s program funding. The employer may be asked to submit originals if necessary.
• Provide a Monthly Progress Report indicating the successful formations and other pertinent activities as well as maintain open communication with Pace.

Application Process

• When you complete the email application, please attach a written statement addressing how your Employer Commuter Grant request meets Pace's Requirements and Guidelines.
• Be as specific as possible by including a description of your proposed Employee Commuter Program. If your program covers multiple worksites, break out the estimated level of impact on reduction of single occupancy vehicles, budget, time schedule and labor or material costs by location.
• Also include any previous commuter, RideShare or transit promotions previously attempted and describe the success or shortfalls of the program.
• Explain how you intend to continue the program beyond the end of the grant-funded period.
  You may use text, RTF or Word-compatible format.
• Complete the Employer Commuter Grant Application via E-Mail.
• Any questions should be directed to: employer.grant@pacebus.com

When submitting an application, you may wish to use transit terms to define parts of the project. The following definitions may be useful in determining correct terminologies:

• Carpool – an arrangement where two or more people share the use and cost of privately owned automobiles in traveling to and from pre-arranged destinations together (Source: American Public Transportation Association). For the purpose of the Employer Commuter Grant, carpoolers must commute to the work site at least three days per week.
• Commuter Choice –the name given to benefits that employers can offer employees that encourage them to commute to work by methods other than driving alone. They may include "qualified transportation fringes" under IRS rules (transit and vanpool vouchers and passes and qualified parking), biking, walking, telecommuting, rollerblading, etc. (Source: Federal Transit Administration)
• Cyclists - employees who commute to the work site by bike
• Emergency Ride Home program – a plan in which employees receive a free ride home for an emergency which occurs during their work shift or for unplanned overtime (NOTE - Pace’s Vanpool program already includes a Guaranteed Ride Home for vanpool participants for work shift emergency only and does not apply to unplanned overtime.)
• High Occupancy Vehicles – vehicles that can carry two or more persons. Examples of high occupancy vehicles are a bus, vanpool and carpool. These vehicles sometimes have exclusive traffic lanes called "HOV lanes," "busways," "transitways" or "commuter lanes" (Source: American Public Transportation Association)
• Pace Vanpool - a group of 5 to 13 employees who live in the same area and commute to work in a van owned, insured, maintained, and fueled by Pace. Primary drivers are volunteers that ride for free (Source: Pace)
• Park and Ride lot - designated parking areas for automobile drivers who then board transit vehicles from these locations (Source: American Public Transportation Association)
• Public transportation - transportation by bus, rail, or other conveyance, either publicly or privately owned, provided to the public general or special service on a regular and continuing basis. Also known as "mass transportation," "mass transit" and "transit" (Source: American Public Transportation Association)
• Rideshare – A form of transportation, other than public transit, in which more than one person shares the use of the vehicle, such as a van or car, to make a trip. Also known as "carpooling" or "vanpooling" (Source: American Public Transportation Association)
• Ridership - the number of rides taken by people using a public transportation system in a given time period (Source: American Public Transportation Association)
• Transfer Center - a fixed location where passengers interchange from one route or vehicle to another (Source: American Public Transportation Association)
• Transportation Coordinator - a liaison between the company, employees and Pace who handles the overall program management, distributes incentives, provides outreach and prepares an evaluation of the effectiveness and participation rate
• Telecommuting – a work arrangement in which daily commutes to a worksite are replaced with telecommunication links