The City of New York Office of Payroll Administration (OPA) values your participation in the pre-tax TransitBenefit Program. As a NYC employee you have chosen the Transit Benefit Transportation Spending Account Commuter Savings Card (TSA Card) Program. Each pay date, your TSA pre-tax deductions are deposited into your account.

In an effort to improve TSA Card customer service, OPA has worked with JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) to improve the Customer Service provided to TSA Card participants.

During the first week of June, 2008, JPMC mailed new TSA Cards to all current TSA Card program participants at the address you provided on the TSA enrollment form.

The TSA Card has been updated with the new 24 hours per day, 7 days per week TSA Customer Service toll-free telephone number, 1-866-399-1494.

The new TSA Card must be activated immediately. The old TSA Card expires upon activation of the new TSA card. If you did not activate your new card by Monday, June 30, 2008, the old TSA card expired automatically.

Your TSA account number and account balance are NOT changing. You can access your account balance online at www.myaccount.chase.com. You will be required to register your new card in order to obtain the account information.

If you have not received your new TSA Card, please call JPMC at 1-866-399-1494 to report your card as undelivered.

New NYCT MetroCard Fares and Products Took Effect on March 2, 2008.  Visit www.MTA.info to find out details about all the changes.

The TransitBenefit Programs are affected as follows:

Premium TransitChek MetroCard Program

Premium Card deductions increased to the following amounts effective March 1, 2008 as follows:

• Weekly Paid Employees: $18.70
• Bi-Weekly Paid Employees: $37.39
• Bi-Weekly Paid NYCHA Employees: $36.00
• Semi-Monthly Paid Employees: $40.50

Transportation Spending Account (TSA Card) Program

TSA Card Monthly Unlimited Ride Plan deductions increased to the following amounts effective February 2008 as follows:

• *Weekly Paid Employees: $18.00
• *Bi-Weekly Paid Employees: $40.50
• *Bi-Weekly Paid NYCHA Employees: $40.50
• Semi-Monthly Paid Employees: $40.50

  * No transportation deduction will be taken from the first pay date of months that have 5 weekly pay dates or 3 bi-weekly pay dates.

NEW! TSA Bi-Weekly Unlimited Ride Plan is available as of March 1, 2008. Completely Pre-tax deductions are as follows:

• Weekly Paid Employees: $23.50
• Bi-Weekly Paid Employees: $47.00
• Bi-Weekly Paid NYCHA Employees: $47.00
• Semi-Monthly Paid Employees: $47.00

TransitBenefit Transportation Spending Account
Monthly Unlimited Ride Plan
Suspension Schedule - 2008

The TransitBenefit Transportation Spending Account (TSA Card) Program has a Monthly Unlimited Ride deduction plan that allows employees to purchase an MTA NYCT 30-Day Unlimited Ride MetroCard at MetroCard vending machines.

The current cost of a 30-Day Unlimited Ride MetroCard is $81.00.The TSA Card Monthly Unlimited Ride plan is designed to allow employees to fund the full cost of the card after two bi-weekly or four weekly payroll deductions.

To avoid the accumulation of excess TSA balances for bi-weekly and weekly paid employees who are enrolled in this plan, the first deduction of each three and five pay date month, respectively per pay cycle, will be equal to $0.00. The deduction will be suspended automatically by OPA and will be reinstated automatically on the following pay date by OPA.

This suspension only applies to the TSA Card Monthly Unlimited Ride Plan transportation deduction amount. The TSA administrative fee deduction amount is not affected and will continue to be deducted each pay date. Semi-monthly paid employees enrolled in the Monthly Unlimited Ride plan are also not affected.

The following schedule represents the pay dates during calendar year 2008 that will reflect a $0.00 deduction amount.

What You Should Know About the TransitBenefit Program

• What is the TransitBenefit Program? 
• Is there a TransitBenefit Product that is right for me?

What is the TransitBenefit Program?

Under the provisions of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 132, the City offers eligible employees opportunity to use pre-tax earnings to pay for certain public transportation costs through the TransitBenefit program.

[back to top]

Is there a TransitBenefit Product that is right for me?

• Premium TransitChek MetroCard
  The Premium TransitChek MetroCard (Premium Card) is a special annual, unlimited ride MetroCard that can be used for a continuous twelve-month period on the New York City Transit (NYCT) Subway and on local buses accepting MetroCards.
  The Premium Card program offers one deduction plan and has no fee.
  
• Transportation Spending Account (TSA) Debit Card
  The Transportation Spending Account (TSA) is a special bank account funded by Transportation deductions from your pay. You will receive a special, PIN-based, Debit Card (TSA Card) that you can use to purchase MetroCards from MetroCard vending machines. You may purchase time or value-based MetroCards to suit your personal NYCT transportation needs and schedule. There are deduction plans for Occasional Riders, Frequent Riders, and Express Bus Riders and you can skip Transportation deductions when you are on leave. Most deductions are from pre-tax earnings. Only Transportation deductions over the IRC $115 per month limit are taken after taxes. There is a small monthly post-tax administrative fee of $1.80 per month average.
  
• Access-A-Ride Program
  The Access-A-Ride (A-A-R) program allows employees with disabilities who receive paratransit service from New York City Transit to receive A-A-R Coupons that are accepted by A-A-R service providers as a single ride fare. There are deduction plans suitable for Occasional Riders and Frequent Riders. There is no fee.

Learn about the City’s TransitBenefit products and decide which is right for you.

You can obtain more information from your Agency TransitBenefit Coordinator, or by calling the OPA Service Line
at 1-212-669-8555.

[back to top]