What is it?
The Emergency Ride Home Program provides the opportunity for an employee, who uses alternative transportation to commute to/from work and experiences a qualified emergency during the work day, to obtain a free taxi ride from a participating taxi company to an appropriate site when the employee needs to respond to the emergency situation. Transportation planners feel this option is a great way to encourage use of alternative transportation and allow employees to feel more comfortable about leaving their cars at home, knowing they have a way to deal with unexpected emergency situations.
Not all county work locations have elected to participate in this program. We are fortunate that many library locations have.
Can I use this program?
Employees and situations that are eligible
- Location must be a participating location
- Regular, benefits-eligible employees (not on-call staff)
- Used alternate transportation to get to work such as:
- Car/van pool
- Bicycle
- Walk
- Bus/train
- Illness or crisis:
- Illness (cold, flu, etc.)
- A close family member is ill, has serious accident, or has died (parent, sibling, spouse, child, guardian, domestic partner)
- A serious problem or crisis (ex: day care notifies you of problem requiring action; damage occurs to home or property requiring action)
- Driver of carpool has left employee without ride home
- Unexpected overtime that leaves the employee unable to use their method of alternative transportation
- Traveling within the boundaries of the TriMet service district
- Rides for eligible employees are provided only within the boundaries of the TriMet service district within Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties. Not included are all or major portions of the cities of Sandy, Canby, Damascus and Wilsonville, and the Boring area in Clackamas County, because they are not within the TriMet service district. However, Emergency Ride Home cab rides may be taken to the TriMet WES Transit Center in Wilsonville.
Situations that are not eligible
- Injury or illness arising from a situation specific to work, e.g. broken bone or reaction to paint fumes: Contact workers' compensation
- Weather
- Personal errands
- Pre-arranged overtime or medical appointments
What to do
- Contact Travel Coordinator or PIC
- Coordinator or PIC: Determine if the employee is eligible. Did they use alternative transportation that day? What is their emergency? Are they traveling to a destination within the TriMet boundary?
- Fill in Section 1 of the voucher
- Contact a TriMet designated cab company (as listed on the voucher), identifying the trip as a TriMet ERH ride (Only these companies are allowed due to the contract Trimet has with them.)
- The employee presents the ERH voucher to the cab driver at the beginning of the ride
- The driver will complete Section 2 of the voucher at the end of the ride; the employee verifies the amount listed and signs Section 3
- The employee retains one copy for library records; send to ISM/Karen Wilkinson for retention
- TriMet pays the cab company in full, including 15% gratuity
Important! TriMet will only accept and pay for rides when the voucher is signed by an authorized travel coordinator. If you are signing a voucher as a coordinator and your name is not listed, contact Employee Benefits at employee.benefits@multco.us or (503) 988-3477. Tell them you need to be added as a Trimet ERH coordinator for the library (give your location if you are permanent staff there). Conversely, any coordinator on this list can sign a voucher no matter what building they are working in that day.
List of participating locations and their travel coordinators
Only locations listed are participating. Even if no names are listed, there should be vouchers on site.
Library travel coordinators & location of vouchers
Items to print
Travel Coordinator signs (Google folder; editable)
Procedures manual (if you'd like to have this in a notebook along with the vouchers)
More information
Please contact Grant Swanson at x84338 with questions or suggestions for this page.