Program offers money to base riders

Gas prices might be low this year but leaving a smaller carbon footprint is at the forefront of the Transportation Incentive Program at Robins Air Force Base.

The program, from the Department of Defense, gives eligible Robins team members $130 a month to use for one of 19 transportation companies in the van pool to ride to work instead of drive.

Military members, civilians and reservists are eligible. Contractors are not eligible to take advantage of TIP.

Some employees come from as far away as Marietta and Stone Mountain and take advantage of TIP to ease the vehicle traffic.

"Part of it is for the clean air campaign. Plus it solves the parking issue at Robins," said Staff Stg. Steven Bergakker.

Robins isn't the only base to participate in the program. There are 94 locations that use DOD money to support transportation initiatives.

Most of the participants, Bergakker said, usually come from the same department, which makes it easy for those who ride together.

There are 618 people at Robins who use the TIP. Transportation Incentive Program managers Bergakker and Staff Sgt. Xavier Brown want to encourage the other 2,000 or so people who live in Macon to use the program.

The largest number of participants comes from the southeast side of Middle Georgia with more than 200 employees riding from Cochran, Eastman and Dublin.

Each van pool driver has a contract signed for them to work on base. The vans range from seven-passenger to mini buses.

"It's free money," Bergakker said.

The TIP program started in 2000. Nearly 16 years later, there are still some people who don't know that for military members and civilians, there is a program that will pay for you to take a shuttle to work.

"We are hoping to increase ridership," Brown said.

The program is an incentive for working on the base. Although there is an information sheet to be filled out in order to receive the $130, there is no cost to the rider. The program requires the participant to use the transportation 50 percent of the time, which equals 10 days out of a work month on average.

For more information, contact Bergakker at steven.bergakker@us.af.mil.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Program offers money to base riders ."