Jawnt has launched the Jawnt Pass, a commuter debit card that allows cardholders to spend pre-tax dollars on transit and/or parking costs anywhere in the United States.
With the Jawnt Pass, employers can apply one commuter benefit offering to all employees in the U.S. Cardholders enjoy easy access to their pre-tax transit and parking funds for purchases anywhere that debit cards are accepted and can load the Jawnt Pass onto their Apple Wallet or Google Pay for easy mobile access.
“The Jawnt Pass is a debit card built for commuters, by commuters,” said Jawnt CEO and Co-Founder Jeff Stade. “Our passion for and experience with public transit is what enables Jawnt to offer the catered user experience, modern payment features and dedicated customer support that traditional commuter debit cards have long neglected to provide.”
Stade notes most legacy transit benefits providers “don’t have any regard” for the experience of using transit and will often reap the most profits when benefits card balances are left untouched.
“We don’t want commuters to carry unreasonably high balances on their Jawnt Pass–we want people to use it,” Stade wrote in a blog post on Jawnt’s website. “Our success as a business doesn’t come from profiting on unspent balances, but from building better commutes that are supported by comprehensive benefits, data-backed recommendations and a passionate team of transit experts.”
The company says the launch of Jawnt Pass is a significant step forward in its nationwide market expansion into cities like Atlanta, Ga., San Francisco, Calif., and Chicago, Ill. The company’s largest market is currently its hometown of Philadelphia, Pa., where Jawnt has welcomed more than 100,000 local riders onto its Unified Transit Platform since its launch in 2022. Jawnt works closely with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) as the technology partner for its corporate fare program, SEPTA Key Advantage. Jawnt was also key in helping local companies adjust to a new commuter benefits mandate imposed by the city in 2023. The companies that have worked with Jawnt in Philadelphia can now extend unified commuter benefits to all of their U.S. employees through the Jawnt Pass, which will serve as a natural segue for the company to enter new markets.
The Jawnt Pass is made available to riders through their employer, university or member organization and is complementary to Jawnt’s existing offerings.
