One positive outcome of the fiscal Cliff talks at year’s end was an increase to the monthly limit for the mass transit benefit program (MTBP) for 2013. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 increased the maximum amount available to individual employees for mass transit benefits to $240 per month. For a typical month with 20 work days, that comes out to about $12 per day in commuting expenses that can be covered by your employer. Department of Defense employees in the National Capital Region are eligible to receive this subsidy if they do not currently receive a subsidized parking space. Instead of driving alone and sitting in traffic, federal employees can enjoy a cost-free and hassle-free commute using qualifying forms of public transit. The MTBP can pay for travel on metro trains, metro bus, vanpools, commuter bus, and local bus among others.
Participants are now eligible to submit claims for their certified commuting expenses up to the new maximum limit. If you are already enrolled in the mass transit subsidy program, but do not have all of your current costs covered, just submit a new claim for the month of February. By entering a new claim, your previous claim will be overwritten.
There is no need to submit a change application for this increase unless you need to update your commuting expenses. If you’d like to review your most recently approved application, please visit https://mtbp.whs.mil/Participant/Status.aspx.
If you do not currently take advantage of the mass transit benefit program, but are interested in learning more, please visit: https://mtbp.whs.mil/Participant/Welcome.aspx
Those who take advantage of third party transit providers, such as vanpools and commuter rail, may need to notify Commuter Direct or WMATA Metro of the adjustment they wish to make to your allocation amount. Third party transit providers are those modes of transportation that do not have a SmarTrip card reader on board.
If you have any questions about enrolling for the first time or updating your enrollment, please contact the MTBP team at transitpass@whs.mil or (571) 256-0962.