Employee Commute Benefits

Shift is San Mateo County’s Employee Commuter Benefits Program. Shift provides a suite of flexible resources and incentives to help County employees cut commute costs, reduce commute stress, engage in healthier habits, and minimize their contribution to traffic congestion, local air pollution, and climate change by avoiding the need to drive to work alone.

shift - the San Mateo County Employee Commuter Benefits Program

Over the past 20 years, Shift has helped thousands of County employees commute car-free, avoiding millions of pounds of pollutants from being emitted into the air, and millions of miles of vehicle travel on Bay Area roads.

Pick One of These Two Programs

Our two most popular programs are the $150 per month Transit Subsidy, and the $2 per day Commute Cash program. Please note employees may use the Transit Subsidy or Commute Cash, but not both.

Commute Cash

$2 per day to walk, bike, or carpool

The Commute Cash program offers employees $2 per day for each day that walking, biking, or carpooling to work. Log your trips, earn rewards!

How to sign up for Commute Cash (PDF)

Transit Subsidy

$150 per month for mass transit (bus, train, ferry), vanpool, paratransit, or electric bicycle and scooter rentals

The Transit Subsidy offers employees $150 per month to help cover the cost of taking public transportation (bus, train, ferry, paratransit), using bike or scooter share, or participating in a vanpool to get to and from work. The instructions for receiving funds for each are below. They are separated for simplicity, but you can mix and match between the three!

Other Shift Programs

County employees may use as many of the following programs as they’d like.

Free Clipper Cards

Digital clipper cards are downloadable for free via your phones digital wallet. Physical clipper cards are also available to employees at no cost. To request one, please reach us at commute@smcgov.org or (628) 258-3147.

Free Bike Lockers

Bike lockers are a great way to keep your bike or scooter safe and dry while you’re at work. They’re free, and one can be yours for as long as you work for the County.

To request a bike locker please reach us at commute@smcgov.org or (628) 258-3147.

San Mateo County employee parking garage

Priority Carpool and Vanpool Parking

Vehicles used for carpooling and vanpooling get better parking spots! To apply for a priority carpool/vanpool spot, have all drivers fill out this form. Once all drivers have completed the form, let us know by contacting us at commute@smcgov.org or (628) 258-3147.

To be eligible, carpools and vanpools must consist of at least two County employees.

closeup of man using smart phone while standing beside a car

Emergency Ride Home Program

The Emergency Ride Home program assists County employees in getting home during or at the end of the workday when an emergency arises, if they didn’t drive alone to work, by reimbursing Taxi/Lyft/Uber expenses. Please see the Emergency Ride Home Program (PDF) details to learn more.

Eligible reimbursements might include:

Sudden illness of self or immediate family members or carpool partner.
Personal or family emergency.
Dependent care or daycare emergency.
Supervisor-approved, unscheduled overtime.
Carpool/vanpool emergency resulting in loss of ride home.
Bicycle theft or breakdown.

Pre-tax Parking at Transit Stations

Employees that park at transit stations can pay for parking passes at using pre-tax deductions. Please see the instructions for Pre-Tax Commuter Benefit (PDF) to learn more.

Contact Us

If you need help figuring out how to best use our programs, planning how to get to work without a car, finding a carpool or vanpool, or if you just have some feedback to give, please email commute@smcgov.org.