Why it matters to you
Lyft’s new tax exemption will save you money on your commute, and it’s about time — Uber made a similar move last summer.
Your morning commute may not get any less stressful, but here’s hoping it gets cheaper. On Wednesday, Lyft announced a series of new partnerships that allow you to use pretax dollars in order to get you to your office on mornings when you’re just not feeling the subway, or otherwise need to catch a ride. This, the ridesharing company says, can help you save up to 40 percent on your Lyft Lines.
Thanks to a series of new partnerships with WageWorks, Zenefits, Benefit Resource, Commuter Benefit Solutions, and Navia, Lyft is offering this perk to employees across a number of different companies with different benefits providers. That said, the tax exemption only applies (for now) if you live in New York City, Boston, Seattle, or Miami.
More: Lyft will soon be in 40 more U.S. cities — is yours one of them?
If you are lucky enough to be a denizen of one of these cities, however, getting set up is straightforward. Simply head over to the Payment tab in the Lyft app, add your commuter benefits prepaid card as a payment method, and select Line mode when you’re requesting a ride to or from work. From there, all you need to do is set your commuter card as the payment method, and you’ll be spending pretax dollars.
Lyft actually isn’t the only transportation giant to be offering such benefits. Last summer, Uber made a similar announcement, launching a pilot program in New York City. Just a few months later in December, it expanded its offerings, and now allows commuters in Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Denver, Atlanta, Miami, the state of New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., to pay with pretax dollars as well.
So don’t sweat it if you’re running late, friends. Just hop in a Lyft (or an Uber, for what it’s worth), and carpool your way to work for cheap.