Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home

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1 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 10-1 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home What Is the Basic ERH Process? Configuring Emergency Ride Home Enrolling Users Processing Submitted Vouchers Modifying Your Program s Configuration Retrieving ERH Reports Ending the Current ERH Program Guaranteed or emergency ride home (ERH) is a program that provides free or reducedcost rides home from work should employees experience personal or family emergency or be required to work late on a day when they have commuted to work without a car. Offering ERH is a way to encourage employees to use alternative modes to get to work by assuring them a ride home in the event that they cannot use the same mode to return home. SmartRideshare includes a module that allows administrators of Organization/Employer, University, Jurisdiction, TMA, and Regional networks to set up and administer a guaranteed/emergency ride home program. (Program, Division, and Worksite networks cannot set up their own ERH program but may be included within that of a parent network. ERH is not available for School networks.) Administrators configure eligibility criteria for the program and the number of ERH trips allowed each year, and the system tracks ERH usage for each network member. The system supports two ways to administer your program: A self-service program allows users to print their own voucher for ERH service without contacting you directly. In a managed program, users must contact you to print an ERH voucher for them. The system also allows you to operate your program on one of two payment models: With a prepaid voucher, the taxi or rental car service bills you. With reimbursement, the employee pays for the ride service and requests reimbursement from you.

2 10-2 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home What Is the Basic ERH Process? Every ERH program will differ with the agency or employer offering it, but the basic process in administering an ERH program with the SmartRideshare system is as follows: 1. From within your network, you set up the ERH program, configuring the program start and expiration dates, number of vouchers each user is allowed within those dates, travel modes that qualify for the program, a payment model, type of ride service allowed, whether enrollment is required, the content of the voucher, the subnetworks that are included, and whether the program is self-service or managed. 2. Upon the start date of the program, network users will see it offered in their accounts under Commute Services>Emergency Ride Home Programs. 3. If you have required enrollment (available only to Regional, TMA, and Jurisdiction networks), users must first click a link to enroll, which must then be approved before a link will appear allowing users to submit a voucher request. 4. To use the ERH service, all network members must begin by clicking a link to submit a voucher request. If your program is self-service, users will be able to immediately print out their own voucher. If your program is managed, you will have to electronically approve the request, print the voucher, and manually give (or /fax) the voucher to the user. 5. The user gives the voucher to the taxi or car rental service and receives a ride home. 6. You then receive the voucher back and pay for the service. With a prepaid voucher, the taxi or car rental service submits an invoice with the voucher attached to receive payment. With a reimbursement program, the employee submits proof of payment with the voucher attached to receive reimbursement. 7. You verify the voucher/service and electronically finish processing the voucher. Configuring Emergency Ride Home 1. Access ERH configuration Within your network, select Benefits from the navigation bar. December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 10-3 Click on Click to configure the program. Click on Click to configure the program to begin setting up your ERH program. 2.

3 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 10-3 Click on Click to configure the program. Click on Click to configure the program to begin setting up your ERH program. 2. Configure the ERH program The top of the page allows you to configure various details of your ERH program. You will configure your program for a particular timeframe and restrict the number of vouchers per user to a maximum number within that timeframe. Fields with asterisks* are required. Show the program to users*. The default is Yes to show ERH program availability to users on the Commute Services page in their account. The shown information is generic, but you can add organization-specific information under Other eligibility criteria (see below). (Selecting No, to not show your program, may be useful, for example, if you need to take the program off-line for a short duration without losing any information or resetting usage counts.) Program name. Enter your ERH program name, which displays on the Commute Services page in the user s account and on the ERH voucher. Program start date*. Choose the date when your program will begin operation, This is the beginning of the timeframe for limiting the number of vouchers per user. Program expires*. Choose the date when your program will end. This is the end of the timeframe for limiting the number of vouchers per user. Consider using an annual cycle for ERH. If you are currently using paper-based ERH, you can shift to the online version mid-way in your program term by configuring the remaining time before the term ends.

4 10-4 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home Number of vouchers allowed per user per term*. Enter the number of vouchers each user may submit within the dates defined above. Qualifying modes. Select at least one mode you will accept for commute to work. Payment model. If the program uses prepaid vouchers, select Prepaid voucher. If the program reimburses after payment, select Reimbursement model. Note: You cannot edit the payment model later. To change the payment model, you will have to end the program and create a new one. Choose carefully between reimbursement-based and prepaid ERH. Reimbursement gives you more control over approving ERH usage and processing payments for only approved ERH. It also gives users more control over the ability to cancel an ERH request for which a voucher is generated in case they do not use the ERH. However, reimbursement-based programs require the user to pay up front, which may present a hardship for some users, discouraging them from taking advantage of the ERH program. Pre-paid ERH, although potentially more convenient for some users, may require the agency to pay the taxi or rental car company even if the ERH request is rejected. Service offered*. Choose rental car, taxi, or both. Rental car for distances over. This box appears only if you select rental car. Enter the minimum distance for rental car usage. Allow user to self-print voucher. Selecting Yes means that users are given a link that that enables them to print their own ERH voucher. Self-service voucher printing is possible whether your payment model is prepaid voucher or reimbursement. Consider using the self-service model for ERH. It reduces administrator effort and makes ERH more convenient to use. For example, a user may require ERH because she worked late, However, the administrator may no longer be in the office to generate and hand her a voucher. With selfservice, she can print her own voucher to use ERH. If your program currently requires the administrator to manually approve each request before the commuter can use the service, select No. Once a user submits a voucher request, s/he is responsible for contacting the ERH program administrator. The administrator must approve the request, print out the voucher, sign it, and deliver it to the user. Is program enrollment required. (This option is offered only for Regional, TMA, and Jurisdiction networks.) Select Yes to require that users be pre-enrolled December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

5 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 10-5 in the ERH program through the system or No if enrollment is not required. As an example, you may want to require program enrollment if your agency only guarantees a ride home if the user rides modes of transportation that you provide (e.g., a transit agency may guarantee rides home for bus or vanpool trips but not carpool, walking, or biking). You may not want to require program enrollment if your ERH is available to all people who live or work in your service area. Notify when enrollment application is submitted. (This option is offered only for Regional, TMA, and Jurisdiction networks.) Select Yes to receive notification when a user has submitted an enrollment application. Selecting yes allows you to approve (or reject) applications for enrollment in a timely manner. Notify when voucher is requested. Select Yes to receive notification when a user has submitted a request for a voucher. notification is particularly useful if your program is managed and you need to respond to voucher requests quickly. Consider using a shared account that can be accessed by multiple people throughout the day so that s can be viewed and responded to quickly. Program Administrator s address. Enter the address for the person who should receive voucher request and enrollment application notifications. Participation guidelines link. Enter a link to online guidelines for the ERH program. Users will see this link when they enroll in the program and when they request a voucher. Other eligibility criteria. Enter information specific to your program that users will read under Commute Services>Emergency Ride Home Programs in their account. This information should include eligibility criteria: for example, if only members of selected subnetworks qualify for the program, or only particular members of your network, specify that here. Also note criteria such as commuting in an alternative mode (not single occupancy vehicle), commuting to work, mileage or dollar limits on each ride home, or acceptable emergency situations. Note that this is the only organization-specific ERH information that users see on their Commute Services page. If you do not have a Web link to Participation guidelines, then include even more participation information here.

6 10-6 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home Program enrollment appears only for Regional, TMA, and Jurisdiction networks. Configure various details of the ERH program 3. Configure the ERH voucher The next three boxes on the page allow you to configure the ERH voucher that you or users will print. (Upper right corner arrows allow you to reveal or hide each box.) Voucher Header Header Logo. Upload an image file of your organization s logo that you have saved on your computer. This file must be in a.jpg,.bmp,.png, or.gif image format and no larger than 120x120 pixels. The image will be viewed along with the ERH program name not only on the voucher but also in the user s account. Header Text. Enter the name of your ERH program. December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

Enter the voucher header and main text for your voucher. Closing Content. Enter additional text that should appear on the voucher (see sample below). Service Provider.

7 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 10-7 Main Content. Enter information that should appear on the voucher (see sample below). This text is not necessarily the same as the information you enter as Other eligibility criteria to appear in users accounts. Enter the voucher header and main text for your voucher. Closing Content. Enter additional text that should appear on the voucher (see sample below). Service Provider. List eligible vehicle services and their phone numbers. This information should also be provided with the Participation guidelines link or as Other eligibility criteria. Enter the closing content and service providers to be shown on your voucher.

10-8 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home Note that after you have saved your program configuration, you can print a sample voucher (see Modifying or Viewing Your Program s

8 10-8 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home Note that after you have saved your program configuration, you can print a sample voucher (see Modifying or Viewing Your Program s Configuration, below). Main content appears here Closing content appears here A sample voucher with the header, main content, closing content, and service providers. 4. Select qualifying networks Select the networks whose members will be able to participate in the ERH program. Subnetworks will already be listed in the Eligible Networks box. If you make no changes (that is, if you leave the Selected Networks box empty), then all subnetworks in your December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

9 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 10-9 network will be included in the program. (Note that subnetworks must be properly associated with parent networks in order to be listed, and members of subnetworks must also be associated with the parent network in order to view the offered ERH program in their accounts.) If you want to allow members from only some but not all your subnetworks to use the ERH program, place the desired subnetworks in the Selected Networks box. Then only users who are part of the selected subnetworks and the higher-level network will be able to submit an ERH voucher. Click on a network name under Eligible Networks and then click the >> arrows to insert it into the Selected Networks box. Search for subnetworks within a long list by typing keywords into the Name box and clicking Search. Then click on the network name and click the >> arrows. Remove a selected network by clicking on its name in the Selected Networks box and then clicking the << arrows. Click Enable Program. The Select Networks box for configuring your ERH program. When you have successfully configured your program, a Program settings saved box appears. Click Continue to return to the main page. Once you have completed the program configuration, members of your network will see the ERH program offered in their account under Commute Services>Emergency Ride Home Programs.

10 10-10 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home Enrolling Users Not all networks will want to require enrollment. Note that only Regional, Jurisdiction, and TMA networks may require users to enroll in their ERH program. 1. User enrolls Members of your network will see the ERH program offered in their account under Commute Services>Emergency Ride Home Programs. If you have required enrollment, users must complete the enrollment process before the system offers a link to request ERH vouchers. The user must click the link Enroll Now. The user clicks Enroll Now. The user then completes the enrollment application and clicks Submit Application. The user s enrollment application December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 10-11 The user will then see a message saying that ERH approval is pending. 2.

11 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home The user will then see a message saying that ERH approval is pending. 2. Receive notification If you set up the program to send notification, the system sends an telling you that an application is waiting for processing. The system s regarding a pending ERH application. 3. Process the enrollment request Within your network, under Benefits, click on Process New Enrollment Requests. Click on Process new enrollment requests to enroll new ERH users.

12 10-12 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home Review the application. You may add comments that the system will include in an to the user. Click Approve Enrollment or Reject Enrollment. An enrollment request for review and approval. As soon as you have approved the user s enrollment, the user will see a link for requesting ERH vouchers and the number of vouchers used and available. Processing Submitted Vouchers All users wanting an emergency ride home must first submit an ERH voucher request. That request goes to an electronic queue waiting for processing. If you set up your program to receive notifications, you will receive an each time a user submits a voucher request. With a self-service program, the user can then print out his/her own voucher, and you may elect not to process the electronic request until the taxi/rental car service returns the paper voucher to you with an invoice or the user gives you proof of payment for reimbursement. With a managed program, you will need to respond to the request quickly in order to print the voucher for the user. You may choose not to finalize the voucher request until the taxi/rental car service returns the paper voucher to you with an invoice or the user gives you proof of payment for reimbursement. December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 10-13 1. The user submits a voucher The user clicks on Request a new voucher under Commute Services>Emergency Ride Home Programs.

13 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home The user submits a voucher The user clicks on Request a new voucher under Commute Services>Emergency Ride Home Programs. The user s view of the ERH program(s). The user fills out the voucher request, and clicks Submit Request. Note that with prepaid vouchers, users cannot cancel a pending (unprocessed) request. With a Self-Service Program The system will submit the voucher request (see processing steps below) and immediately give the user a link to print the voucher. With a Managed Program The system will submit the voucher request (see processing steps below). You will need to respond to the request quickly in order to print the voucher for the user. 2. Receive voucher notification If you configured your program to do so, you will receive notification that a voucher is waiting for printing/processing.

14 10-14 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home notification of a waiting ERH voucher request 3. Access waiting vouchers Within your network, select Benefits from the navigation bar. Click on Process submitted vouchers. Click on Process submitted vouchers to print, approve, reject, or cancel vouchers. December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

15 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home Print a voucher if self-service is not allowed A window appears showing the details of the user s voucher request. If your program does not allow self-service voucher printing, and assuming that you approve the user s request, you must print a voucher for the user and provide it to him/her. Click the link Print Voucher. 5. Verify and complete voucher information Typically, you will finish processing ERH requests once you receive a printed paper voucher from the taxi/rental car service with an invoice or from the user with proof of payment for reimbursement. You can then compare the paper voucher information with that recorded in the system. The paper voucher will contain the taxi or rental car company s name, taxi fare or rental car cost, and trip mileage. Enter comments for yourself, such as the fact that you have received the printed voucher. Enter the taxi or rental car company s name, taxi fare or rental car cost, the trip mileage. Processing an ERH request

16 10-16 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 6. Approve, reject, or cancel the voucher request Depending on whether the ERH request meets your program s criteria, Click Approve Voucher to approve the voucher. Click Reject Voucher to reject the voucher. You may want to cancel a voucher if a network member submitted an ERH request but then did not use the ERH service. (For example, a colleague may have offered a ride, so the user did not take a taxi home.) Click Cancel Voucher to cancel the voucher. Cancellation prevents the system from recording program usage, and the number of ERH trips available to the person does not decrease. For reimbursement-based programs, both the user and the administrator can cancel the voucher request. For pre-paid programs, only the administrator can cancel the voucher request. Modifying Your Program s Configuration After you have initially configured your program, you can return to change program details and view or print a sample voucher. You can also end the current program. 1. Access program configuration Within your network, select Benefits from the navigation bar. Click on Change or view program configuration. Click on Change or view program configuration to revise program details. December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

17 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home Change the ERH program details Use the forms on the page to revise any of the ERH program configuration details, modify the voucher, or change the subnetworks eligible for participation. Note: You cannot change the payment model. Click Save at the bottom of the page. Preview and print a sample voucher Click Print Sample Voucher at the bottom of the page to preview your voucher and print a sample. Retrieving ERH Reports The SmartRideshare system provides two Emergency Ride Home reports for administrators, the ERH Enrollment Report and the ERH Usage Report. Retrieve either report as follows: Starting from your network, click Reports in the navigation bar Click the desired ERH report. Specify a timeframe by typing start and end dates or using the calendars. Select a status (or All) from the drop-down menu. Click View Report. Use the export icon to export the report to Excel, pdf, or Word formats for further processing, formatting, or archiving. Emergency Ride Home Enrollment Report This report provides information on members who have enrolled in an ERH program within the timeframe you specify. The status you select at the top refers to enrollment. Status is indicated by a number in the Enrollment Status column as follows: 0 Pending 1 Approved

18 10-18 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home 2 Rejected In the How did You Hear (about the ERH program) column, answers that users have given are indicated by a number as follows: 1 Radio 2 Internet 3 Mail 4 Employer 5 Newspaper ad 6 Word of mouth 7 Website Emergency Ride Home Usage Report This report provides information on ERH program usage, including names, usage dates, reasons for requests, request status, service providers, mileage, and trip fares. Ending the Current ERH Program You can end your ERH program before the assigned program expiration date and begin a new program term with a new configuration if you choose. Note that the End of Term option does not appear unless you have processed all ERH requests. Ideally, consider generating and archiving the ERH report for audit purposes before ending the program. Within your network, select Benefits from the navigation bar. Click on Change or view program configuration. Click Mark End of Term for Program at the bottom of the page. Click Mark End of Term for Program to reset your program s start and expiration dates. December 15, 2014 Network Administrator s Manual

19 Chapter 10: Offering Guaranteed/Emergency Ride Home You will see the message Are you sure you want to mark end of term for the Emergency Ride Home program? Please note that this is an irreversible process. You will be required to provide the details for the new term. Click Okay to continue or Cancel. To cancel ERH altogether, now leave this page. To begin a new ERH program, enter new start and expiration dates. Change any other details of your program as appropriate. Click Enable Program at the bottom of the page.

Emergency Ride Home. SmartRideshare Platform Emergency Ride Home Module

Emergency Ride Home. SmartRideshare Platform Emergency Ride Home Module Emergency Ride Home Contents Introduction... 2 User View - Enrollment... 3 Admin View User Enrollment Related... 4 User View Requesting ERH... 5 User View Promo Code... 6 User View Voucher Based... 7 Admin