Uber asks Pool users to push employers to subsidize commutes

“Do you want your employer to offer UberPool as an employee benefit?” Uber wrote in an e-mail last week to those “power users,” urging them to contact their company benefit managers or put Uber in touch with them.

[...] it’s a perk that could draw fire from some transit advocates for diverting business from public transit, and removing pressure to improve Muni.

“Using Uber or Lyft, even with their carpool options, on a daily basis for commuting creates a two-tier system, where people who can afford it take those private services and those who can’t take public transit,” said Daniel Sisson, vice chairman of San Francisco Transit Riders, a grassroots group that works to improve the city’s transit system.

Critics also point out that regular carpooling, in which co-workers share rides to work, removes more cars from the road than the Uber and Lyft shared rides, since the services pack the streets with additional vehicles that increase congestion.

By trying to persuade employers to offer Lyft and Uber as a commute perk, the companies are seeking to expand their customer bases, especially for their shared-ride options.

Lyft recently joined forces with Starbucks to offer rides for baristas who work late-night or early-morning hours when public transit is limited.

While money for public transit, parking and vanpooling can be allocated pre-tax — bumping up employees’ potential savings — carpools (such as those driven by employees on their way to work together) and rides hailed through apps don’t qualify, according to IRS rules.

In the Bay Area, any company with at least 20 employees must provide a commuter benefit, often administered by outside firms like WageWorks or Commuter Check, which allocate the pretax earnings to authorized vendors like Muni, BART or vanpools.

After 18 months in operation, it’s up to almost 10,000 rides a week; and has 60 leased vehicles and 75 drivers, all of whom are W-2 employees, said CEO and founder Ali Vahabzadeh.

“It’s a private company, so again it doesn‘t help improve the public transit system, but at least it puts many more people in one vehicle so it reduces congestion, which does improve transit,” he said.