Coastal Commuters Emergency Ride Home

Eligibility

Emergency Ride Home (ERH) provides some peace of mind for days that you don’t have your car at work. You can use a voucher for a free taxi ride when you need to leave work earlier or later than usual for unexpected circumstances (up to $60 per voucher, one voucher per emergency). ERH is not available to all participants in the Coastal Commuters program at this time. To be eligible, you must:

• Work for an employer who has contributed funding to the Emergency Ride Home program;
• Use the Commute Calendar in this ride-matching system to log at least two round-trips (or four one-way trips) per week by one or more of the preferred transportation methods (carpool, mass transit, bicycle, or walking).

Eligible commuters can access the vouchers under the ERH tab on this site – limited to six vouchers per year.

If your employer has not contributed funding for the Emergency Ride Home program, encourage the leadership at your workplace to do so. This will make ERH available to you, if you are using one of the preferred commute methods frequently enough and logging those trips in the Commute Calendar. Interested employers should contact Jane Love at the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission (912-651-1443) to find out more about making Emergency Ride Home services available to their employees.

ERH Rules

A qualifying emergency occurs when:

1. You are sick at work;
2. A member of your family has an emergency while you are at work;
3. You are required to work late unexpectedly;
4. Your carpool driver has an emergency and cannot give you a ride home or to your car;

• Eligible commuters are allowed six (6) emergency vouchers per calendar year.
• Each voucher will cover up to $60 of the cost of the taxi trip. Any cost beyond $60 must be paid out of pocket at the time of the trip. You may use only one voucher for each emergency occurrence.
• One stop of 15 minutes maximum is allowed during the emergency trip, such as at a child’s school or the pharmacy.
• The ERH voucher is to be used to get you from work to home or to your car. You may not use it for your trip to work.

How to use ERH

If you have met the two criteria for ERH eligibility, follow these steps when you need a voucher:

At the time of the qualifying emergency, log in to the ride-matching site and:

1. Click the "My Communities" tab
2. Under the "My Networks" tab on this page, click the "Benefits" link that appears to the right of the region name (If your employer or organization is not listed, then you are not eligible for ERH).
3. Click the "Emergency Ride Home" link. If your employer has not contributed funding for the Emergency Ride Home program, you will not be eligible for ERH.
4. Fill in the required fields on the screen and click "Submit Claim".
5. Click the "Print ERH voucher" link on this screen and print the voucher form.
6. Call one of the cooperating taxi companies listed on the voucher and tell them you will be using a Coastal Commuters ERH voucher.
7. Sign the voucher, give it to the cab driver and show a photo ID.
8. Ask the cab driver to fill in the trip distance and cost on the voucher and to sign the voucher also.

When you have used all six of your allowed vouchers in one calendar year, you will no longer be able to access the voucher through the ride-matching system.

Participation in Coastal Commuters programs, such as by carpooling, riding the bus, biking, or walking to or from work, and use of the Emergency Ride Home (ERH) program is an individual decision. Participants are completely responsible for the operation of carpools and participation in any Coastal Commuters program. COASTAL COMMUTERS, THE CHATHAM COUNTY-SAVANNAH METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION, AND EMPLOYERS ACTING AS ITS PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS SHALL HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIMS, EXPENSES, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ANY INDIVIDUAL'S PARTICIPATION IN A CARPOOL OR ERH PROGRAM OR FROM ANY INDIVIDUAL’S DECISION TO RIDE THE BUS, BICYCLE, OR WALK.