Frequently Asked Questions

WageWorks enables you to pay public transportation, vanpool or parking expenses with pre-tax money.

You can use the funds to have prepaid transit passes delivered to your home, or use a WageWorks Commuter Card at most commuting-related point of purchase locations. We offer public transit coverage in all 50 states and in more than 350-plus metropolitan areas, so you're almost certain to benefit from WageWorks, no matter where you live. And for those using the program for parking, you can even have automatic, monthly direct payments made to your parking provider, or choose to be reimbursed.

You may have either a transit or parking account, or both.

Transit covers public transportation and vanpools carrying six or more adult passengers (excluding the driver). Parking benefits must be used for parking at or near work, or at or near a place where you take public transportation to work (known in some places as Park & Ride).

WageWorks makes it as easy as possible to take advantage of your commuting program. You can pay for your public transit expenses in three ways:

• Buy My Pass — Tell us which pass you want to buy from which transit or vanpool agency and we'll have it delivered to your home.
• Smartcards — WageWorks loads contributions directly onto Transit Agency SmartCards where available.
• WageWorks Commuter Card — Works at most points of purchase that accept credit and debit cards.

We also offer two ways to pay for parking:

• Pay My Parking — Tell us how much and when to pay your parking garage and we'll send a check directly from your account.
• Pay Me Back — Pay to park and then get reimbursed via check or direct deposit.

Only parking and mass transit costs incurred by you in connection with travel between your residence and your work place are eligible.

Examples of eligible expenses include:

• Mass transit fares, including tickets, passes, tokens, vouchers or other fares for riding buses, trains, Para-transit vans or other mass transportation vehicles
  • Qualified transit expenses are covered up to the monthly limit of $255. Qualified parking expenses are covered up to the monthly limit of $255. You may have both qualified transit and parking expenses up to the monthly limits for each. You may not combine the monthly limits to increase the individual limit for either transit or parking.
• Official vanpool fees
• Qualified Parking – The cost of parking on or near -the business premises of your employer, or near a location from which you commute to work by mass transit, vanpool or carpool. The cost of parking at or near your home is not covered. Covered expenses cannot exceed the monthly parking limit.
• Transit – The cost of transit fare on mass transit systems such as buses, commuter trains, para-transit vans, subways, ferries or light rail. The cost of your commute back and forth to work in a qualified commuter highway vehicle (vanpool) is also a covered expense. Covered expenses cannot exceed the monthly transit limit.
• Parking fees at or near your work place, or
• Parking fees at a location from which you commute to your work place via mass transportation or a carpool (ex: Park & Ride lot)

The following is a partial list of Commuter expenses that are not eligible:

• Tolls
• Traffic tickets
• Fuel
• Mileage or other costs you incur in operating a vehicle
• Taxis
• Payments to a fellow participant in a carpool or to a friend who drives you to work
• Parking at your personal residence
• Parking at your spouse's place of work
• Parking at a mall or similar location where you stop on your drive to or from your place of work
• Costs that have been or will be paid by your employer, such as for a business trip
• Parking at an airport for taking an airplane to work

Your expenses (up to the monthly transit limit) are covered if the vehicle used in the vanpool has seating capacity of at least 6 adults, not including the driver. In addition, at least 80% of the mileage use of the vehicle must be for transporting employees back and forth between home and work, and during those trips at least 50% of the seating capacity must be filled with employees being transported back and forth between home and work.

One person volunteers to be the primary driver/coordinator of the van. In exchange for taking on that responsibility, the driver gets to use the van for personal transportation, even at night or on the weekends.

To enroll in your Commuter benefit, please go to the Employee Registration page and follow the instructions for first-time user.

Once logged into your account:

1. Go to the Commuter program
2. Select "Enroll in Commuter"
3. Either click on "Transportation" or "Parking" to review your options

To review the transit agencies in your area, please go here and follow the instructions for first-time user.

Once logged into your account:

1. Please go to Employee Registration
2. Select "Enroll in Commuter"
3. Click on the "Transit" button to review your options

After logging into your account, go to your Commuter program and click "Enroll in Commuter" then select the Parking option.

• Choose "Pay My Provider” and follow the instructions provided.
• The site will return a list of parking providers in your area.
• Choose your provider from the menu*. Confirm your garage's information, input your monthly expense and parking garage account number, and then complete your order.
• Remember to cancel your existing parking deduction if you already have one.

To make a change, log into your account: Go into your Commuter program and choose "Change or Cancel" from the menu, or select the listing for the order itself. Click on the link to change or cancel your Election amount for the month and follow the instructions provided.

WageWorks makes every effort to ensure that passes are mailed out in time so they can be received by the first of the benefit month.

If you do not receive your order by the first, please contact WageWorks within the first three business days of the month. If your employer's plan provides for reimbursement of undelivered orders, you will be instructed to purchase your exact order directly from your public transportation or vanpool service and will be provided with a Special Handling Form with which you can request reimbursement. The Special Handling Form must be received no later than the 10th of the benefit month to be accepted for reimbursement up to the cost of your regular WageWorks monthly order.

Also, remember that the deadline for submitting the special handling form is the 15th of the month. You will need to provide documentation of the purchase with the form.

Unfortunately, you will have to wait until the following month.

In order for us to process your reimbursement in this situation, you are required by your WageWorks User Agreement to contact us within the first three business days of the benefit month. In the future, please contact WageWorks as quickly as possible to report the situation so a corrective action can be taken.

Yes. By selecting "Every Month" when you configure your transit selection, you will automatically receive your transit pass and you will not need to come back to the Commuter Spending Account unless you wish to make a change to the monthly frequency or to the type of pass.

You can use pre-tax dollars for parking and for transit by electing each commuter benefit separately. The bus fare would count toward the monthly $255 transit limit; the parking fee would count toward the $255 parking limit.