WiredCommute Launches ParkChekSM

WiredCommute, founded in 1999 by parking industry veterans and recently acquired by Accor Services North America, has grown into the market leader with $30 million in annual revenue. Much of this growth is attributable to an increasing number of employees nationwide taking advantage of their transportation benefits plan to make pre-tax parking and transit payments via WiredCommute’s ordering platform. Over 1.6 million employees in 100+ markets in the U.S. have access to WiredCommute’s online parking and transit ordering platform powered by pre-tax payroll dollars.

The parking world has changed a great deal in the past six years since WiredCommute’s inception. Just look at pay-by-phone, SmartCard technology, greater deployment of license plate recognition (LPR) software to identify vehicles, and stall sensors to calculate parking lot occupancy in real-time. Regardless of a parking location’s bells and whistles, the most important aspect of operating a parking company remains the same…collecting and depositing 100% of that parking fee. As all of the parking old timers know so well – more often than not, low-tech solutions are the sensible way to do just that!

With Pre-Tax Transportation Benefits making its way into mainstream employee benefits packages, WiredCommute’s growth in the parking arena is outpacing transit growth 3-to-1. To deliver on this rapid growth and to complement the success of our online platform, WiredCommute has heeded the sage advice of the old timers and has launched a simple process of facilitating parking payments to Parking Operators ensuring 100% of the fee gets collected and deposited.

Announcing ParkChek^SM, a secure bank check used by individuals to pay for parking at any accepting parking location. This solution is old hat for WiredCommute’s parent company, Accor Services, which is the world’s leading provider of voucher and check benefits. ParkCheks^SM can be sent either to the individuals’ home address or directly to the parking operator. They are sent as requested or on a recurring monthly basis, and can be used for daily, weekly or monthly parking. For daily use, ParkCheks^SM are available in any denomination. Under federal tax laws, individuals can pay up to $200 each month pre-tax to pay for work-related parking expenses.

Parking operators simply deposit or cash the checks, only unlike normal consumer checks or even company checks, ParkCheks^SM are pre-funded and backed by Accor Services. It is the equivalent of receiving a cashiers check without the additional processing fee attached. It’s ‘cash’ to the parking operator and a ‘fraud proof security check’ to the parking employee. It’s the only thing better than cash in the parking industry!

WiredCommute provides this pre-tax service for parking and transit though our partnering Benefit Administrators such as ADP, AON, Ceridian, and Conexis. These Administrators license WiredCommute’s flexCOMMUTE platform for online ordering of parking and transit products by eligible employees. For parking, the flexCOMMUTE platform offers flexibility to facilitate pre-tax payments to the parking operator utilizing direct pay-to-parking-provider and now - ParkChek^SM. Individuals enter their payment address into the flexCOMMUTE platform, and much like a bill-pay system, our database matches up payment address and parking location to simplify their pre-tax payment process.

Based on orders received via the platform, WiredCommute categorizes ParkChek^SM payments in three distinct methods:

- Monthly Payments (aggregated) – This form of payment is made payable to the Parking Operator and sent to the Parking Operator. This payment is an aggregated amount of all individuals parking at the same parking location and/or parking company.
- Monthly Payments (individualized) – This form of payment is made payable to the Parking Operator and sent to the individuals home address. The individual then hand-delivers the payment to the Parking Operator.
- Daily Payments – This form of payment is made payable to the Parking Operator and sent to the individuals home address. The individual uses the ParkChek^SM as cash to pay for parking on a daily basis.

WiredCommute’s payment methods for monthly parking payments sent to Parking Operators are simple and flexible, depending on the Parking Operators’ needs. We provide direct ACH credits/wire transfers and/or mail payments all at our expense.

ParkChek Chicago

The Regional Transit Authority in Chicago touching 150,000 employees in the Chicago area recently began offering WiredCommute’s ParkChek^SM to complement the current Transit Check program provided by WiredCommute. WiredCommute currently processes over one million Transit Checks and fare cards each year reaching 4,000 companies in the Chicago area. ParkChek^SM was launched in July in Chicago and is growing rapidly with many of its current Transit Check customers. WiredCommute has affiliated several market leaders in Chicago — Central Parking System, Standard Parking, InterPark and System Parking to provide an initial footprint of accepting parking locations.

About WiredCommute – Accor Services

In January 2005, WiredCommute announced an acquisition by Accor Services, a global leader in providing employee services to more than 19 million people in 34 countries. Aside from Accor’s multi-billion dollar balance sheet, Accor brings a wealth of expertise in benefits delivery systems and affords WiredCommute a deep well of resources in the development of customized commuter benefit programs. Accor Services offers the most robust proprietary check management system for commuter benefits: TRI2. This system has the power and flexibility to manage diverse product solutions such as fare media, checks, vouchers, and SmartCards. To learn more about WiredCommute visit www.wiredcommute.com or contact Carl LoGiudice at carl@wiredcommute.com.