This posting was sent out via email to all Commuter Choice recipients (minus vanpools) on June 2, 2020
Dear Commuter Choice Participant,
Due to COVID-19, many faculty and staff continue to telework. As such, we will continue to ask that if you are 100% teleworking, please do not submit a Commuter Choice Benefits request form for July. The only people who should be submitting Commuter Choice Benefits request forms while we are in a significant telework environment are those faculty/staff who are coming to work on campus. If you are currently working on campus or have been told that you will be returning to work in July, please submit your Commuter Choice Monthly Benefit Request form by Wednesday, June 10.* Your form should reflect the cost of your commute for the estimated number of days you will be coming to campus in July.
*If you receive word that you are returning to work in June, please let us know. We can either provide you with Anytime Benefits (if we are informed prior to the June 15 WMATA deadline) or we can reimburse you for your eligible June expenses. Please see #1 below.
If you are 100% teleworking, no action is required.
Because of the uncertainty surrounding when you might be coming back to campus in whole or in part, there continue to be two options for you:
1. You do not submit a Monthly Benefit Request form for July.
If you are called back from telework in July, at that time you can let us know. We will be able to do one of two things to assist you:
a. Provide you with Anytime Benefits as long as we hear from you before the monthly WMATA deadline of July 15**. These funds will be added directly to your SmartTrip card.
b. Reimburse you for your eligible commuting expenses after the month is over. This entails providing us with your travel receipts and completing a Payment Request Form.
**While the supply of funds lasts. We have ordered additional Anytime Funds based upon some of you returning to campus in July but not all of you.
2. You do submit a Commuter Choice Monthly Benefit form for June.
Please submit your Month Benefit Request form by Wednesday, June 10.
Please keep in mind that your public transportation commute to campus may take longer and plan accordingly. In some cases, bus routes have been changed or eliminated during COVID although the CUE bus continues to run on its regular schedule. Mason to Metro Shuttles (Sandy Creek and Global) are still not currently running. Additionally, the WMATA platform project on the orange and silver lines is underway. As part of the project, all nine orange and silver line stations west of Ballston are closed and silver line service suspended. WMATA is running free express and local shuttles during the shutdown. For details on the WMATA project, please see their website at https://www.wmata.com/platforms.
If you would prefer to drive, please see https://transportation.gmu.edu/archive/daily-complimentary-parking/ for temporary parking options.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at transpo@gmu.edu. Please do not call as our office is all teleworking.
Thanks so much,
Your Colleagues in Parking and Transportation