PIERCE TRANSIT’S Emergency Ride Home (ERH) program guarantees payment for taxi fares or charges by a Transportation Network Company (herein referred to as “TNC”) incurred by EMPLOYER’S eligible employees for emergency rides taken in accordance with the terms set forth below.

Eligible Employees

ERH serves individual employees on days they use a non-drive-alone commute option and who are participants in the EMPLOYER’S regulated or voluntary Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) program.

Approved Commute Options

Eligible employees must have commuted from their principal residence to the EMPLOYER’S work site by one of the following approved commute mode options: bus, train, carpool, vanpool, walk-on or bicycle-on ferry, bicycle or walk.

Eligible Reasons for Using ERH

An eligible employee may receive a ride under ERH from the work site to approved destinations, if approved by the EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator, under the following conditions:

• Unexpected illness of the employee or member of the employee’s family that necessitates leaving work.
• Unexpectedly working late at the request of a supervisor (“Unexpectedly” means the employee is requested to work late on the day of the request, without prior knowledge).
• Missed connections with the planned ride home due to an unexpected change in the schedule of others (e.g., carpool driver had to leave for an emergency).
• Other approved emergency situations that occur during the workday.

Non-Eligible Reasons for Using ERH

• Pre-scheduled overtime, doctor appointments or other appointments.
• Business related travel.
• Working late with at least one day's prior notice.
• Any trip for which alternate transportation could have been arranged in advance.
• Trips to the hospital in place of ambulance service (in the event of employee injury or illness).
• Transportation to a doctor or hospital resulting from an on-the-job injury. Refer instead to your EMPLOYER’S procedures for worker’s compensation incidents. ERH transportation service is not meant to replace an EMPLOYER’S legal responsibility under workers’ compensation regulations.
• Non-emergency side trips.
• Transportation beyond the employee’s usual commute ferry terminal.
• Employee layoff or termination.
• Inclement weather.
• The individual employee has already met trip limits for the year.

Eligible Destinations

An eligible employee may receive a ride under ERH from the work site to the following destinations, if approved by the EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator:

• To the employee’s principal place of residence.
• To the employee’s personal vehicle (e.g., park & ride lot, daycare, carpool partner’s home).
• To the employee’s usual commute ferry terminal.
• To a medical provider.
• To an intermediate stop if it meets the criteria set forth below.

Intermediate Stop

An eligible employee may receive a ride under the ERH Program from the work site to an intermediate stop and then on to an eligible destination if approved by the EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator. An intermediate stop is permitted only if it is directly related to the emergency and is arranged in advance by the EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator. An example of an intermediate stop would be the need to pick up a sick child at school before traveling to the eligible employee’s home or the need to stop at an ATM in order to pay for the trip.

ERH Program Payment

Grant funding shall cover trip costs up to $1000 per employer per year or until allocated funding is exhausted, whichever comes first. EMPLOYER’S payment for ERH services once that funding is exhausted will be for actual trip costs for its employees, payable in advance by a quarterly deposit. PIERCE TRANSIT shall invoice the EMPLOYER for this deposit based on previous use. EMPLOYER or employee is responsible for trip payment at the time the trip is made. PIERCE TRANSIT shall reimburse the metered fare amount of an EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator-authorized ERH ride up to $100, as defined herein, for a one-way trip. Employees are responsible for any gratuities and any additional costs or surge pricing over the $100 cap.

EMPLOYER'S Program Coordinator

EMPLOYER shall designate as many Program Coordinators as necessary to administer and perform the necessary ERH program tasks as set forth herein.

Number of ERH Trips per Eligible Employee

EMPLOYER shall ensure that each individual eligible employee is limited to six (6) trips per calendar year, commencing on January 1 of each year.

Process

To access ERH rides, an eligible employee shall contact the EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator and supply the following information prior to trip approval.

• Commute option mode used by eligible employee on day of request
• Reason necessitating the ERH ride, along with final destination and justification for any identified intermediate stop.
• EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator will ensure that the commute option mode, reason, intermediate stop, and destination meet eligibility requirements.
• Once the EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator approves, the eligible employee may call any taxi provider or TNC in Pierce County to arrange for the trip.
• Once the eligible employee takes and pays for the ERH ride, the eligible employee shall provide a receipt for the ride to the EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator.
• EMPLOYER’S Program Coordinator shall forward the completed ERH Use Verification form and the receipt to PIERCE TRANSIT at the end of each month for reimbursement.

Program Abuse

PIERCE TRANSIT reserves the right to investigate and recover costs from and/or disqualify an EMPLOYER for intentional abuse of the ERH program by eligible employees. Program abuse is defined as, but not limited to, taking trips for inappropriate reasons, unauthorized destinations and intermediate stops, pre-scheduled appointments not defined above and failure to meet an ERH program service provider. PIERCE TRANSIT shall have the right to recover costs from and/or disqualify an EMPLOYER for its employees’ abuse of the ERH Program. PIERCE TRANSIT shall also have the right to recover costs from and/or disqualify an EMPLOYER who knowingly, willingly or intentionally violates the terms of this Agreement by authorizing ineligible or inappropriate trips or failing to fulfill their responsibilities as described in this Agreement.

CONTACTS - PIERCE TRANSIT

Commute Solutions
253.983.3792
CommuteSolutions@PierceTransit.org

CONTACTS - EMPLOYER

Employer*

Name*

Phone*

Email*

Name

Phone

Email

Indemnification

EMPLOYER agrees that PIERCE TRANSIT is not responsible for providing transportation services under this ERH program. EMPLOYER further agrees that PIERCE TRANSIT makes no guarantee or warranty as to the availability, accessibility, quality or reliability of taxi service or a TNC and that PIERCE TRANSIT’S sole obligation under the program is to make payment for trips actually taken in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. EMPLOYER agrees it shall make no claims of any kind or bring any suits of any kind against PIERCE TRANSIT for damages or injuries of any kind arising out of or in any way related to the ERH program or services provided thereunder. Without limiting the foregoing and by way of example only, the EMPLOYER agrees that PIERCE TRANSIT shall not be liable for any injuries or damages caused by failure of a taxi or a TNC to provide a ride due to negligence, intentional acts or causes beyond the taxi’s or TNC’s control, including but not limited to incidence of fire, flood, snow, earthquake or other acts of nature, riots, insurrection, accident, order of any court or civil authority, and strikes or other labor actions.

Termination

If EMPLOYER fails to perform in the manner called for in this Agreement or if EMPLOYER fails to comply with any other provisions of the Agreement and fails to correct such noncompliance within ten (10) days written notice thereof, PIERCE TRANSIT may terminate this Agreement for cause. Termination shall be effected by serving a notice of termination on EMPLOYER setting forth the manner in which EMPLOYER is in default. Either party may terminate this Agreement, without cause, by providing at least thirty (30) days written notice to the other party. EMPLOYER shall submit final payment reports for any ERH rides incurred prior to termination of this Agreement within 30 days after the termination date; failure to submit such requests within their period shall relieve PIERCE TRANSIT of any obligation to make such reimbursement. This Agreement will continue in force until terminated by either party.

PIERCE COUNTY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION BENEFIT AREA

Referred herein as:

PIERCE TRANSIT

3701 96th St SW
Lakewood, WA 98496-0070

Kim McGilvery
Community Development Manager

Date*

Referred herein as:

EMPLOYER*

Address*

City, State, Zip Code*

Signature

As Employer Representative, I certify that I approved this Emergency Ride Home Agreement and all information submitted is true. *

I agree

Name*

Title*

Date*

ERH USE VERIFICATION

Emergency Ride Home Reimbursement Form

Submit electronically at

https://www.piercetrips.com/ERHReimbursement