Metro is asking its riders to lobby Congress to extend a federal tax benefit scheduled to roll back on Jan. 1 that will increase the commuting cost for the transit system’s SmartBenefits users.
The agency released an “urgent update” this week on its home page and sent to some commuters’ e-mail inboxes, calling on SmartBenefits users to write their congressional representative to extend their tax break or face losing nearly half their monthly rail and bus allowance.
The increase in pre-tax transit benefits from $120 to $230 began in 2009 as part of the federal stimulus.
“We are encouraging our customers to reach out,” said Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates. “We all strongly believe that Metro carries a lot of federal employees to work every day and that reducing this subsidy could cause a hardship.”
