From Parking Perks to Mobility Benefits: The New Employer Commuting Strategy
For decades, the default employer commute benefit was simple: a parking spot. Subsidized parking became so embedded in workplace culture that many employers stopped thinking of it as a benefit at all. But parking-first policies carry a hidden cost: they incentivize solo driving, worsen regional congestion, and work against the mode-shift goals growing cities like Austin need to meet.
This session explores what happens when employers stop defaulting to parking and design commute programs around how people actually want to move. Drawing on real employer data and regional TDM expertise, panelists trace the arc from parking-centric benefit to multimodal mobility program: what's driving the shift, what's working, and what the data shows about sustained behavior change.
Ridepanda, a U.S. employer-sponsored e-bike subscription platform, will share proprietary data from enterprise programs at companies including Google and Amazon. Before joining Ridepanda, 74% of riders had never or rarely commuted by bike; after joining, 84% commute multiple times per week — an average of 6 fewer car trips per rider per week. Ridepanda will also address how these programs integrate with existing transit benefits and how their ESG dashboard converts behavior change into emissions data for sustainability reporting.
Attendees will leave with a framework for building the internal business case, practical models to adapt, and data connecting employer programs to regional TDM goals.
This session is designed for TDM professionals, HR and sustainability leaders, transportation planners, and policy advocates ready to move beyond the parking default — with a roadmap grounded in real-world results.
Panelists
Lonny Stern is the Senior Government Relations Lead for Lime across Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, where he works with cities and community partners to help build a future where transportation is shared, affordable, and carbon-free. In that role, he focuses on the intersection of public policy, operations, and community trust-helping shape micro-mobility programs that work for riders, cities, and the public realm alike.
Before joining Lime, Lonny served as Executive Director of Movability, the Transportation Management Association of Central Texas, and held leadership roles at Austin Transit Partnership and CapMetro. His broader career has also included senior communications, outreach, and nonprofit leadership roles at Skillpoint Alliance, Hope Street Group, KOOP Radio, aGLIFF, and Project Transitions.
Lonny holds a master’s degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and a BA in English and Communications from Florida State University. His work has been recognized with honors including the 82 Alliance Better Tomorrow Award (2025), the Greater Austin Chamber's "Mobility Champion" (2024), the IAP2 Core Values Award (2022) for Project Connect, and ACT's Commuting Options Award for Transit Adventures (2019).
Whether the conversation is about bikes, buses, scooters, or the eternal challenge of getting from point A to point B a little more smoothly, Lonny brings a practical, city-minded perspective grounded in partnership, access, and the belief that better transportation can make everyday life better.
Chinmay Malaviya is the Co-founder and CEO of Ridepanda, the leading U.S. platform for employer-sponsored e-bike benefits. With a career spanning micromobility, global marketplaces, and enterprise technology, Chinmay has spent two decades building companies at the intersection of business and impact.
Before founding Ridepanda in 2020, he led Strategy & Planning at Lime, where a personal rediscovery of cycling sparked the insight behind Ridepanda. He was also a founding team member of Foodpanda, helping scale one of Asia's first food delivery platforms before its acquisition by Delivery Hero.
Under his leadership, Ridepanda has become a trusted partner for enterprise organizations including Amazon, Google, and OpenAI, doubling revenue in 2025 and raising $12.6M from investors including Porsche Ventures and General Catalyst. A Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia honoree, Chinmay holds an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
Ruth Miller is Director of Product Partnerships at Jawnt, a Philadelphia-based fintech company that simplifies commuter benefits and transit payments for employers, transit agencies, and the riders they serve. With more than a decade of product experience across the public and private sectors, Ruth has spent her career making it easier for people to pay for and ride transit.
Before joining Jawnt, Ruth served as Head of Product at the MBTA, led transit product at Lyft, and launched Apple Maps in North America. She holds degrees in city planning from UC Berkeley and MIT. Ruth is also on the boards of TransitMatters in Boston and the New England Chapter of the Association for Commuter Transportation.
Stephen Wachter is a seasoned professional with a strong background in executive recruitment, well-known for his effectiveness in leadership roles within the recruiting space.
With a career focused on turning business needs into strategic hiring plans, Stephen has built a reputation for connecting top talent with high-growth companies, including giants like Facebook, Google, and Yahoo, as well as emerging firms in various industries.