Commute Smart Benefits

Listed below are the benefits for faculty and staff:

Transit Benefits:

Emergency Ride Home (ERH)

Emergency Ride Home is designed to provide employees with needed transportation when they have a personal illness, family illness, family emergency, or unexpected overtime. Emergency Ride Home is available to all PLU employees. If you smart commute to work and have an emergency situation, you qualify for Emergency Ride Home.

You may use Emergency Ride Home to travel from PLU to:

    • Your home
    • The location of your personal vehicle; for example, park-and-ride lot, daycare center, carpool partner’s home
    • The ferry terminal (taxi reimbursement ends at the ferry terminal)

An intermediate stop is permitted if it is related to the nature of the emergency, such as picking up a sick child from school before going home or to the location of your car.

Emergency Ride Home cannot be used for:

    • Personal errands
    • Business-related travel
    • Pre-scheduled appointments or overtime
    • Trips to the hospital in place of ambulance service
    • Trips to the doctor or hospital resulting from an on-the-job injury
    • Or non-emergency side trips

How does Emergency Ride Home work?
Campus Safety will authorize the use of a Lyft/Uber/taxi ride and issue a voucher from Pierce Transit. If you need a ride home, contact Campus Safety at 253-535-7441. If you should have any further questions about Emergency Ride Home, please contact the University Transportation Coordinator or Campus Safety.

Preferred Carpool Parking Spaces

Regular carpoolers and vanpoolers who register with Campus Safety can utilize reserved carpool parking spaces in PLU parking lots. For more details on eligibility or to register for carpool parking, please visit the Campus Safety website.

Ridematching

PLU faculty and staff can network to arrange their own carpools/vanpools to and from campus, or anywhere else for that matter. Share the cost of commuting while meeting people. Visit RideshareOnline.com or contact the University Transportation Coordinator for more information.

Reporting Commute Trips

Commute Smart and earn LuteBucks by filling out the online monthly calendar on the Pierce Trips website. Faculty and staff receive $1 in LuteBucks each month when they use a Commute Smart option (carpooling, walking, biking, etc.) to get to work between 4-11 days per month; if they use a Commute Smart option to get to work 12 or more times per month, they receive $2 in LuteBucks. LuteBucks rewards are applied to your account on a quarterly basis in the months of January, April, July, and October. To receive LuteBucks, you must track your commute using the online Pierce Trips calendar and you must still be employed in a with benefits position at the time the LuteBucks are applied in the month following the end of the quarter. By reporting your commute trips, you may also be eligible for other campaign prize drawings. For more information about the program, contact the University Transportation Coordinator.

Bike Racks and Lockers

Bike racks and lockers are located in various convenient locations around the Pacific Lutheran University campus. Please contact us for a list of locations.

Lockers and Showers

Commuters can make use of the lockers and showers located in the gym on lower campus.