Average Vehicle Occupancy (AVO) – The number of people in vehicles arriving at a work site divided by the number of vehicles arriving at the work site.

Average Vehicle Ridership (AVR) – The number of employees scheduled to start work during a specified time period divided by the number of vehicles arriving to the work site during the same time period.

Carpool – Two or more persons driving together in a privately owned vehicle.

Commuter highway vehicle/vanpool vehicle – A van used to transport at least seven adults (including the driver) to and from work.

Emergency/Guaranteed Ride Home – A required benefit of Best Workplaces for Commuters^SM; provides employees who commute via transit, carpool, or vanpool with transportation home in the event of a personal emergency.

Intelligent commuting information – A broad range of diverse technologies known collectively as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that can contribute to solving transportation problems. For example, under-road sensors can transfer real-time information to the Internet, allowing commuters to make route choices.

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) – A public agency responsible for regional transportation planning. MPOs are generally composed of member jurisdictions (cities and counties) but have their own professional staff.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) - A core geographic area containing a large population nucleus as designated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Non-Metropolitan Statistical Area (Non-MSA) – Any area that is not an MSA, usually rural areas and small towns.

On-site amenities – Employers can offer on-site conveniences, such as service marts and dry-cleaning, to reduce the need for each employee to bring a personal vehicle to work.

Park-and-ride – Employees drive to parking lots where mass transit or vanpools are available for the remaining commute.

Parking cash-out – Employees may "cash out" the value of employer-provided parking by foregoing parking, and receive the taxable cash value of the parking in return.

Preferred or reduced-cost parking – Employers can encourage ridesharing by providing carpools and vanpools with preferred parking and/or reduced-cost parking.

Primary benefits – The three primary Best Workplaces for Commuters benefits are parking cash-out, teleworking, and employer-provided transit/vanpool benefits. Employers must offer at least one of the three primary benefits, as well as three additional benefits and an Emergency Ride Home to their employees in order to participate in the program. Employers with less than 20 employees need to provide only one secondary benefit.

Proximate commuting – A transportation demand management and work/family benefit program that reduces long-distance commuting by systematically matching new and existing employees to work sites closer to their homes. The program is primarily designed for multi-site employers, e.g., banks, libraries, retail chains, government agencies, and allows employee participants to have their same job, same pay and same employer, but without the hassle of long commutes.

Pretax transit/vanpool benefits – Before paying income or payroll taxes, employees can set aside up to $100 per month out of their own paychecks to pay for transit or vanpool expenses.

Regional transit vouchers – Good for services on multiple transit agencies, including vanpools.

Ridesharing – Two or more persons traveling together in a car or van.

Tax-free transit/vanpool benefits – Employers can provide tax-free commuting benefits to their employees up to $100 per month for transit or vanpool expenses and up to $180 per month for parking expenses. Employers save money because they do not pay federal income or payroll taxes on the value of the fringe benefit. Employees receive this benefit for free.

Telecenters – Offices with communications access to the main workplace, but closer to the employee's home.

Telecommuting/Telework – A work arrangement in which employees work part- or full-time from alternate locations, such as their homes or telework centers.

Transportation Management Association (TMA) – A nonprofit membership organization made up of local businesses; employees at those member employers are eligible for services provided by the TMA.

Transit pass – An unlimited ride pass, token, ticket, or farecard.

Vanpool – A group of at least seven people (including the driver) who are all traveling to the same workplace from the same community in a van. Vanpools typically carry from 7 to 15 passengers and operate weekdays, traveling between one or two common pick-up locations and the workplace.