Editorial Staff

Press Release: Pioneer Releases First in Series of Videos Promoting Commuter Benefits Program

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VIDEO: Improve Your Commute Through the MBTA’s Perq Program

BOSTON – Pioneer Institute has released its first animated video promoting Perq, the MBTA’s commuter benefits program.

The video features a character from Metro-West whose commute has grown far longer over the last decade, prompting her to urge her employer to begin offering Perq. She then discusses the savings realized from riding commuter rail rather than driving, and how the program has restored work/life balance and increased her productivity.

“Perq allows employees to save up to 40 percent by using pre-tax dollars to pay for their commuting expenses,” said Pioneer Institute Director of Government Transparency Mary Connaughton. “Pioneer Institute congratulates MBTA leadership for emphasizing the program, which provides about 30 percent of the T’s fare revenue.”

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The 2018 Pioneer Institute white paper, “Increasing MBTA Ridership and Revenues with Company Commuter Benefit Programs,” found that a 20 percent jump in employer and employee participation could increase annual T revenue by $70 million. New revenue generated through Perq, which is a market-based solution, does not require any fare increase or additional taxpayer subsidy.

This the first in a trio of Perq videos Pioneer will release. Subsequent videos will be released in each of the next two weeks.

Companies that are looking to participate in the program can visit the MBTA’s Perq website: https://perq.mbta.com/.

About Pioneer

Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts through civic discourse and intellectually rigorous, data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government.

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