New Technology Tracks Bike Commuters
Dero Bike Racks is promoting a new technology called the the Dero Zap that will allow employers to track the number of times employees commute by bike.
On January 1, 2009 The Bicycle Commuter Act was passed that allows bicycle commuting the same tax benefit as other forms of transportation covered in section 132 (f) of the Internal Revenue Service Code, meaning that companies can now pay their employees to commute by bike and receive a tax credit from the IRS.
The Dero Zap unit is set up so that bike commuters are given an RFID tag for their bike, and every day they pass a reader that is set up in a location set by the employer, a commute is counted and a web site gets updated. Employees can log in to see how many times they have commuted by bike, and employers can log in to see how many people are riding into work and run reports.
This seems like it would be a pretty good idea for large employers that have a lot of bike commuters, and a way to encourage more bike commuting.
The League of American Wheelman has a page with more information about the Bike Commuter Tax Provision.
