The Board of Education and the Health and Hospitals Corp. are now offering employees the new transit benefit that DC 37 won in the latest citywide non-wage contract.

The city has also extended the benefit to users of Access-A-Ride, MTA New York City Transit’s service for people with disabilities.

DC 37 members can realize more than $200 in tax savings by signing up for the transit benefit, which is a payroll deduction program. The monthly Premium MetroCard — specially designed for public employees — allows for unlimited rides.

HHC started to phase in the program in an April pilot program for employees in the Central Office and the North Central Bronx Network.

Enrollment dates in hospitals, schools
In Phase 1, the benefit will be offered in the South Manhattan Network, Queens Network, North Brooklyn Network, Correctional Health, Brooklyn Central Laundry and Health and Home Care.

The first payroll deduction for this group will occur May 11, and workers will be able to start using their MetroCard on June 1.

In Phase 2, the benefit will be extended to the Generations Plus Network, South Brooklyn Network/Staten Island, and the Metro Plus Network. Payroll deductions for this group will begin June 8, and the workers will be able to start using their MetroCards July 1.

Enrollment has begun at the Board of Education. Annual employees can sign up at any time, and deductions will begin two pay periods after enrollment. Ten-month school-based employees should indicate that they wish to begin deductions in September for an October card.

The benefit for employees who use Access-A-Ride is structured differently from the MetroCard program. That is because the vans, cars and minibuses in Access-A-Ride do not have the swipe-card readers used with MetroCards.
Under the program for employees with disabilities, the pre-tax deductions of participants will be sent to TransitCenter, the non-profit organization that administers the TransitBenefit program.

Riders must request receipts for all their rides and send them at the end of the month to TransitCenter, which will issue a check for the Access-A-Ride costs.

The city will pay the 90-cent service fee for each biweekly pay period. That provides participants with a fringe benefit of $23.40 for a full year. The benefit will be added to wages reported on W-2 federal tax forms.

Disabled workers: How to sign up
To enroll, workers must provide the TransitBenefit coordinator in their agency with an enrollment form, a copy of a New York City Transit paratransit picture ID and a “subscription” (acceptance letter) from MTA New York City Transit’s Eligibility Determination Unit.

The enrollment form may be obtained from the Office of Payroll Administration, either by calling (212) 669-8555 or click here to visit its Web site.

All told, some 15,000 New York City employees are already using the Transit?Benefit, according to TransitCenter.

Now that HHC and the Board of Education have set up programs, the TransitBenefit is available to virtually all DC 37 members who are eligible to receive it, said Assistant Director Moira Dolan of the Research and Negotiations Department.

Since the union won the benefit in the Citywide Contract a year and a half ago, DC 37 has worked closely with the city to expand it.

Along with Ms. Dolan, Assistant Director Michele Green worked with a labor-management committee on issues affecting employees with disabilities to help get the Access-A-Ride Transit Benefit up and running.