The expansion of teleworking for federal employees was signed into law Thursday, just weeks before expanded transit benefits for the workers are set to expire.
One bill is hoped to help reduce traffic and congestion, while the end of the second is expected to increase it.
The telework bill pushes every federal agency to designate top workers to focus on teleworking and implement plans to cope with emergencies. The legislation had gathered steam after the region was hit with several rounds of debilitating snowstorms last winter, shutting down the federal government locally for more than four days.
The teleworking act is expected to cost $30 million over the next five years, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. But the snowstorms cost an estimated $30 million in lost productivity per day.
The act is also supposed to help reduce congestion as federal workers can work from home, rather than flood local roads to get to their jobs.
Meanwhile, a feature of the federal stimulus that increased commuters transit benefits to $230 from $120 per month is slated to expire Jan. 1. The sunset on the benefit is expected to hurt some 285,000 local transit riders, but especially federal workers who get the benefit as a direct subsidy of their bus and train trips.
About 120,000 federal workers use Metrobus and rail, for example, with the federal government paying as much $331 million a year for their subsidies. Without the benefit, some are expected to drive to work instead because the parking benefit will remain $230 per month.
Or the federal workers could just work from home.
