Using up transit benefits balance

[MoneyTree]

One of the benefits I have at work is a debit card for use on public transportation and uber pool rides. My company contributes to this monthly. I can also contribute pretax dollars into it as well.

I haven’t used this card too frequently, and more recently, I've stopped using it altogether because I’m not taking public transport or Uber pools while COVID is still a concern.

So now I have over $1000 in transit benefit and accumulating more with each paycheck.

Anyone have any creative ideas on how I could spend this down, or even better, convert the money to cash?

I’ve thought about buying a bunch of our local transit cards and adding some cash value on them (clipper card here in the Bay Area) and selling them at a 20% discount. But I’m not sure if there is even a legit secondhand market for these things.

[seattlecyclone]

I had a similar thing at a previous employer, where they put a fixed amount of cash on an Orca Card (Seattle's version of the Clipper Card) every month. Even though I took the bus to work every day the money went in there a bit faster than it went out. They eventually switched us all to unlimited monthly passes, but I had a couple hundred bucks built up on there by that time. At that point I gave the card to my wife to use on her bus trips; she used it up eventually. We also used that card for the occasional scenic ferry ride to the other side of the state, as our state ferry system takes Orca Cards.

[MoneyTree]

I had a similar thing at a previous employer, where they put a fixed amount of cash on an Orca Card (Seattle's version of the Clipper Card) every month. Even though I took the bus to work every day the money went in there a bit faster than it went out. They eventually switched us all to unlimited monthly passes, but I had a couple hundred bucks built up on there by that time. At that point I gave the card to my wife to use on her bus trips; she used it up eventually. We also used that card for the occasional scenic ferry ride to the other side of the state, as our state ferry system takes Orca Cards.

One thing I failed to mention is that I'm anticipating leaving sometime within the next year and since this is part of a transit benefit, I don't believe I get to take the balance with me. So if I can't figure out anything better, I will load the entire balance onto clipper cards and eventually we can find ways to spend that down on public transport.

Too bad that for Uber, i can only use it towards Uber Pool, and I can't load up in Uber cash or use it for Uber Eats.

[lhamo]

You can use the clipper cards on the cross-bay ferries, right?  That would probably be how I would use them -- take regular day trips to Sausalito, etc. during non-commute hours when you are FIREd.  Also nice to have a few of them loaded up to loan to friends/family when they visit.

[Sibley]

I am also sitting on a transit benefits balance, though no where near that much. Maybe $400? For right now, I'm just sitting on it. If I do take the train, I use the card. That's been once since mid March. I should is figure out if it'll roll over to 2021.

I'm guessing that the homeless/low income workers who have to go into work might appreciate help with transit costs. Willing to bet you can find a charity that takes cards and gives them to those who could use the help.

[MoneyTree]

Once upon a time I would use the balance for Uber Pools during business trips and then get reimbursed. That was a way to effectively “cash out” some of it.

But I highly doubt I’ll be going on any trips anytime soon.

Seems like the next step is just to buy a bunch of clipper cards and either 1) use them 2) sell them or 3) give them away, either to visiting folks or find a charity that will take them