Why the IRS Needs to Catch Up: Let Us Use Pre-Tax Commuter Benefits for Bike Share

I Tried to Use My Commuter Benefits — and Got Denied for Choosing the Cleanest Option

In May of 2025, exasperated by sardine-can bus crowding and traffic delays that made my already long Bronx commute borderline unlivable, I finally emailed my Benefits department.

I asked:

"Can I use my commuter benefits for Uber/Lyft or bike share services?"

Their response:

"You can use commuter benefits for shared rides only (UberPOOL or Lyft Shared), provided those options are available in your area. If your transit benefit balance is $50 or under, it must be used for public transportation only, such as subways, buses, or trains. Commuter Benefits cannot be used for bike share services."

There’s a lot to unpack here, but the most flabbergasting part?

I could use pre-tax dollars for a polluting, traffic-congesting car ride with strangers, but not for a clean, quiet, efficient bike that would get me there faster, cheaper, and emission-free.

That’s not just a policy gap. That’s a disconnect from reality.

Imagine a commute like this: clean, fast, and supported by your commuter benefits. This is the future we're fighting for! #BikeShareIsTransit

Commuter Benefits Are Stuck in the Past

Did you know you can use pre-tax income to pay for parking… but not for a bike share membership?

Under IRS Code Section 132(f), workers can set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for:

• Mass transit (bus, subway, rail)

• Vanpooling

• Parking

But not bike share — even if that’s how you commute every single day.

In 2025, that’s not just outdated. It’s unjust.

Why This Matters for Latinx Workers

This issue disproportionately affects Latinx communities, especially in boroughs like the Bronx — where public transit is unreliable, underfunded, and overcrowded.

Latinx workers are overrepresented in essential, hourly, and service-sector jobs, many of which require cross-town commutes that subway lines weren’t designed to serve.

Bike share has become the unofficial transit lifeline for workers who:

• Can’t afford a car

• Can’t rely on buses that take 60+ minutes to go just a few miles

• Need to get to jobs, childcare, clinics, and social services without burning half the day in transit

So if Latinx workers are biking to work in increasing numbers, why aren’t we allowed the same commuter benefits as someone parking in Midtown or riding MetroNorth from Westchester?

Brief History: The Commuter Benefits You Do Get

In case you’re wondering why this is even a tax issue, here’s a quick overview:

• 1993: Congress passes IRC §132(f), allowing pre-tax income for transit, vanpooling, and parking

• 2009: A bicycle commuter benefit is added — up to $20/month, but only for owned bikes (not bike share)

• 2017: That benefit is suspended under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

• 2025: You can still get tax breaks for parking — but not for the cleanest, healthiest, most equitable mode of commuting: bike share.

Why This Isn’t Up to Your Employer

This isn’t about stingy HR policies. Your employer can only offer what the IRS allows.

Most companies use third-party providers like Ameriflex, WageWorks, or TransitChek to administer commuter benefits. These platforms follow IRS rules on what qualifies as a transportation fringe benefit — and bike share isn’t one of them.

So even if your boss commutes by Citi Bike, their hands are tied.

Why Bike Share Still Isn’t Included

Simple: The law hasn’t kept up with reality.

When commuter benefits were written into the tax code, bike share didn’t exist. Even when the bicycle commuter benefit was introduced in 2009, it was meant for people who owned and maintained their own bike — not for app-based systems operated in partnership with cities.

So while urban planning has evolved — with bike lanes, mobility hubs, and multi-modal integration — federal tax policy is still stuck in 1993.

Bike Share Is Transit — Especially in NYC

In cities like New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C., programs like Citi Bike, Bluebikes, and Capital Bikeshare are how hundreds of thousands of people get to work — many of them working-class.

In the Bronx, where cross-borough commutes are a daily challenge, bike share is often the fastest and most reliable way to get to work, pick up a child, or make a doctor’s appointment.

For example: A trip from the South Bronx to Fordham Road can take over an hour by bus — but just 20 minutes by bike using protected lanes.

The Cross-Bronx Greenway Changes Everything

The City of New York has announced plans to expand its Greenway network, identifying opportunities for new corridors— including a long-overdue east–west route across the Bronx to reconnect neighborhoods historically divided by highway infrastructure.

As outlined in the city’s Greenways Master Plan (pages 75–76):

“The City aims to establish an east-west greenway through the middle of the borough linking the Harlem River Waterfront, the Washington Bridge and Highbridge, Claremont Park and Crotona Park, and the Bronx River Greenway to the Hutchinson River Greenway. This greenway would establish the first continuous protected bicycle facilities in the western part of the borough.”

When completed, it will offer:

• Safe bike and pedestrian paths across the Bronx

• Increased access to hospitals, transit hubs, and social services

• A new level of infrastructure equity in a borough long neglected by citywide planning

My Commute, Transformed

My commute from northern Manhattan to Crotona Park takes at least 50 minutes on two MTA buses.

Using existing protected bike lanes, I can cut that to about 30 minutes.

If the city builds the proposed Cross-Bronx Greenway, I could make that trip in as little as 20 minutes — or even 15 on a fast e-bike — without the traffic, the delays, or the crowding.

Now imagine combining that with pre-tax commuter benefits for bike share.

That’s how you unlock:

• Faster commutes into and out of the Bronx

• More access to jobs for Bronx residents

• More access to Bronx-based jobs and services for people living elsewhere

This isn’t just about convenience. It’s about economic mobility, health equity, and transit justice.

And while I’m talking about the Bronx — this issue is national. From South Side Chicago to Oakland, from Atlanta to Albuquerque, workers across the country are navigating broken or incomplete transit systems with bike share as their best option. Bike share isn’t a regional perk. It’s a federal commuter solution hiding in plain sight. Expanding commuter benefits to include it would help millions of workers, especially those in low-income, car-light communities who are just trying to get to work without spending a fortune — or half their day — in traffic or on disconnected bus routes.

What Needs to Change

We’re calling on the IRS and Congress to:

• ✅ Reinstate and modernize the bicycle commuter benefit

• ✅ Update IRS Publication 15-B and CFR §1.132-9 to include bike share as a qualified transportation fringe

• ✅ Treat city-run bike share systems like real public transit — because they are

What You Can Do

🚲 Use bike share — or want to? Here's how to make change happen:

✅ Submit a comment to the IRS on their Taxpayer Advocate suggestion form

✅ Write to your elected officials — like Senators Gillibrand and Schumer — and ask them to support a modernized bike commuter benefit

✅ Share this post with coworkers, HR, or social media to spread the word

Bottom Line: We Deserve Better

It’s 2025. Workers shouldn’t be penalized for choosing healthy, affordable, zero-emission transportation.

And Latinx communities, especially in places like the Bronx, shouldn’t be excluded from commuter benefits just because they bike instead of drive.

Let’s push for federal commuter benefits that actually benefit everyone — in every city, every borough, every state.Let’s build a system where your transportation choice isn’t punished, but supported — whether you’re in the Bronx, Baltimore, or Boise.Let’s make bike share count — for the climate, for working families, and for the future of commuting.