Employer Commute Benefit Program
Case Study
Employer
MITRE
7515 Colshire Drive
McLean, VA
intelligence, aviation, civil systems,
homeland security, the judiciary, healthcare,
and cybersecurity.
MITRE employs approximately 3600 people
in the Washington, D.C. metro region.
The Situation and Solutions
Contact
Nicholas Amatuzzi
Sr. Finance Analyst
TDM Coordinator
703-983-3998
namatuzzi@mitre.org
Background
The MITRE Corporation is headquartered in
McLean, Virginia, and Bedford,
Massachusetts with over 60 other offices
across the United States and around the
world. MITRE is a not-for-profit company
that operates multiple research and
development centers funded by the federal
government. MITRE provides innovative,
practical solutions for some of the nation's
most critical challenges in defense and
For the past 14 years, MITRE has offered
commuting programs to increase travel
options for its employees and promote
sustainable and environmentally-friendly
practices. MITRE’s Transportation Demand
Management (TDM) program has several
elements and covers a range of benefits,
amenities, and modes of transportation with
the goal of reducing the number of single
occupancy vehicle trips of employees. The
most popular are the MITRE Interoffice &
Metro Shuttle, Flexible Work Arrangements,
and SmartBenefits. MITRE has been on the
“Best Workplaces for Commuter” list for the
past two years in a row (see
bestworkplaces.org).
MITRE’s commuting program is composed
of the following elements:

MITRE Interoffice & Metro Shuttle –
Serving about 14,000 passengers per year,
the shuttle links the McLean Metro station
with MITRE’s five buildings in McLean, VA.
It offers GPS tracking, free Wi-Fi, and a
wheelchair lift.

New Employee Transportation Kits –
each new hire receives information about
commuting in their orientation packet.

Pre-Tax Commuter Benefits
(SmartBenefits) – MITRE offers its
employees pre-tax commuter benefits via
payroll deduction up to the IRS maximum
limits. WageWorks is the administrator of
this program and approximately 230 people
per month take advantage of this benefit.

“SmartBenefits Plus50” – MITRE
administers a signup and fulfillment process
for helping employees participate in this
Fairfax County

Flexible Work Arrangements – In
addition to flexible work hours for most
employees, MITRE also offers several
formal programs for flexible work
arrangements. There are three types of
telecommuting options available: (1)
Regularly Scheduled - work from home one
or more days per week, (2) Occasional work from home on an as-needed basis (3)
Teleworking - work full-time from home.
There are approximately 185 teleworkers
who avoid a daily commute. Other formal
programs include compressed work week
and job sharing.

Guaranteed Ride Home (GRH) –
Approximately 15 MITRE employees
currently participate in the Guaranteed Ride
Home program.

Carpool/Vanpool Parking – MITRE
currently reserves five parking spaces for
carpool/vanpool commuters, with the
capability to expand the number of reserved
spots as necessary.

NuRide – There are 112 active
NuRiders at MITRE who log their non-SOV
(single occupancy vehicle) trips and earn
points redeemable for shopping discounts.
Forty six percent of the active NuRiders
previously drove alone when commuting to
work.

Bicycle Support – MITRE offers bike
racks at four of its five office buildings in
McLean. The largest is inside a secured
cage in the M2 parking garage (accessible
by badge swipe) with space for 25-30
bicycles. In 2014, this bicycle cage was
accessed 1,300 times. Cyclists, and those
who jog/walk to work, have free access to
shower and locker facilities in the MITRE
fitness center.

Transportation Website – MITRE
maintains an Intranet page called “MITRE
Commuter Info” that provides commuting
links, schedules, FAQ’s, and other
resources. It also hosts a collection of
internal social media pages that enable
employees to discuss commuting topics,
post messages, and share files.

On-Site Amenities - MITRE offers a
range of amenities that reduce the need for
employees to drive during the day. On-site
services include a cafeteria serving
breakfast and lunch, a 24-hour selfserve/self-pay pantry, catering services,
coffee shop, sandwich shop, credit union,
fitness center, nurse/medical office, dry
cleaning drop-off/pick-up, car detailing, tire
replacement van, haircut, massage,
chiropractor, and physical therapy. MITRE
employees are eligible for discounted Zipcar
membership as an incentive to embrace the
car sharing service.

Electric Car Charging - MITRE offers
two electric car charging stations in the M2
parking garage operated by Car Charging
Holdings, LLC.
The Impacts and Future
MITRE will continue to promote
“SmartBenefits Plus50” until funding from
Fairfax County runs out. The strong
retention results of this incentive suggest
that even after new signups cease, a great
number of employees will continue to use
SmartBenefits.
MITRE is planning a series of improvements
to its commuter programs:
1. The shuttle schedule will be improved by
reducing wait times and increasing the
frequency of stops.
2. MITRE will hold a “Commuting Competition”
among departments to see which one can
reduce the number of single-occupant
vehicle trips the most over a two week
period, and prizes will be awarded at the
department and individual level.
3. MITRE will organize a “carpool matching”
event to help employees form carpools and
will offer gift card giveaways as incentives
for forming and maintaining a carpool.
4. MITRE will increase and redistribute the
location of carpool-only parking spaces
throughout the parking lots and garages to
encourage more carpooling.
5. MITRE will place a set of bike repair tools
(air pump, patch kits, chain lube, etc) in a
secure bicycle storage cage to encourage
additional bicycle commuters.
A review is currently underway by the
Human Resources department to assess
whether MITRE should offer transit
subsidies instead of, or in addition to, the
current pre-tax withholding program for
SmartBenefits. If subsidies are
implemented, it’s expected that participation
will increase significantly.
MITRE’s Corporate Communications
department is working to encourage an
executive officer to commute by transit for
one week and then publish an internal news
article about his/her experience in an effort
to raise the visibility of transit commuting
and encourage others to participate.
Throughout the year, MITRE uses internal
marketing channels to advertise: Bike To
Work Day, Earth Day, Try Transit Week,
and Dump The Pump Day. Quarterly
features called “Commuter Corner” are
published to the main intranet page and
highlight a different element of MITRE’s
TDM plan with testimonials and links to
more resources. These regular
communication events provide continual
reminders to employees to think about
adopting a non-SOV travel mode.
Using the Commuter Connections’ Vehicle
Miles Traveled (VMT) Calculator,
employees produce the following effects by
participating in MITRE’s TDM programs:
Average number of cars not on area roads
each day = 387
Total annual employee vehicle miles
reduced = 5,033,600
Total annual employee gallons of gas saved
= 254,222
Copyright © 2015 Commuter
Connections/Metropolitan
Washington Council of Governments
800-745-RIDE
www.commuterconnections.org