In Seattle, successful commuting is an art form. The Puget Sound region’s explosive growth over the last decade has stretched city resources and, although things are improving, getting around during rush hour is still a challenge.
The trick is to be smart about it. If you’ve got a flexible work schedule, ride the bus before or after the rush hour crush. Take the light rail wherever possible (and pray that the system’s Eastside extension really is finished by 2023), or do the planet and your health a favor by using the city’s extensive network of bike lanes and trails. Driving is not encouraged (for the sake of your sanity and the climate) but if you must, find some colleagues to ride with you.
The good news is that most Seattle tech companies offer some kind of assistance to help you get between home and work. Many subsidize their employees’ ORCA transit cards, while others offer stipends for parking and public transit; some offer on-premise bike storage.
Here, we’ve collected 13 local tech companies that offer commuter benefits of some variety, along with a selection of transit options — buses, bike trails, light rail, ferries and more — that will drop you off nearby.
Commuter benefits: ServiceNow offers a pre-tax contribution plan for commuting expenses.
Commuting to: Kirkland
Close to: Buses and the Cross Kirkland Corridor
Bonus perk: Free parking onsite
Their mission: Through its advanced cloud-based software, ServiceNow automates manual workflows across a wide variety of departments. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley, and has offices worldwide.
Commuter benefit: Yesler provides ORCA cards for all employees.
Commuting to: Pioneer Square
Close to: Light rail, bus, ferries and the 2nd Avenue protected bike lane
Bonus perk: Yesler offers a remote work program, especially handy for new parents.
Their mission: By combining creative and technological teams, Yesler is rethinking the way businesses run B2B marketing campaigns. Headquartered in Pioneer Square’s Smith Tower, the company has worked with the likes of Salesforce, Google, Xbox and Amazon.
Commuter benefits: Valant fully subsidizes employee ORCA cards.
Commuting to: Belltown
Close to: Light rail, buses
Bonus perk: A remote work program.
Their mission: Valant’s SaaS platform is designed to improve the ways in which electronic healthcare record systems serve mental health patients and their caregivers. The technology is designed for easy access to performance data, which can identify and address bottlenecks in a caregiver’s workflow.
Commuter benefit: Sift provides reimbursements for transportation costs.
Commuting to: Downtown Seattle
Close to: Light rail, buses
Bonus perk: Sift provides free daily meals for employees.
Their mission: With an arsenal of machine learning-enabled tools, Sift identifies fraudulent activity and its perpetrators across a wide variety of industries. The technology adapts to shifting tactics, calculates user risk as they navigate through a website, and guards against account takeovers.
Commuter benefit: SkyKick reimburses employees for up to $200 per month for travel, or covers parking costs.
Commuting to: Lower Queen Anne
Close to: Buses and the Elliot Bay Trail
Bonus perk: SkyKick offers flexible work schedules for parents.
Their mission: SkyKick helps IT providers make better use (and more money) from the Office 365 cloud. The company’s SaaS platform helps clients migrate, backup and manage cloud customers.
Commuter benefit: Full-time Blue Nile employees get $100 each month to help with commuting expenses, and pre-tax savings are available for bus and ferry passes, as well as parking cost.
Commuting to: Pioneer Square
Close to: Light rail, buses, ferries and the Elliot Bay Trail
Bonus perk: Once-a-month happy hours with the “Brewnile Club.”
Their mission: Blue Nile is all about diamonds and fine jewelry, operating the industry’s leading e-commerce marketplace. The company also hosts a wealth of learning resources to help educate consumers.
Commuter benefit: TINYpulse fully subsidizes ORCA transit cards for employees.
Commuting to: Lower Queen Anne
Close to: Buses and the Elliot Bay Trail
Bonus perk: TINYpulse employees can beat the traffic with a flexible work schedule
Their mission: TINYpulse helps businesses attract and maintain employees through the creation of a healthy company culture. The company creates small anonymous surveys — known as “pulses” — that help businesses keep tabs on company culture, celebrate peers and stimulate dialogue.
Commuter benefit: In addition to on-site bike storage, Snap! Raise reimburses half of the costs associated with an employee’s ORCA card.
Commuting to: Westlake
Close to: Buses, the South Lake Union Streetcar and the Chesiahund Lake Union Loop
Bonus perk: At their manager’s discretion, Snap! Raise employees can take advantage of the company’s remote work program
Their mission: Snap! Raise does the digital legwork for youth sports team and educational program fundraisers, allowing administrators and kids to focus on the activities that matter. The company sets up fundraising web pages, pulls financial reports and tracks contributions.
Commuter benefits: Xinova employees get a transportation stipend to help them get to work each day
Commuting to: Pioneer Square
Close to: Buses, ferries, light rail and the Elliot Bay Trail
Bonus perk: A remote work program
Their mission: Xinova helps everyone from PepsiCo to paint companies create new solutions to overcome their challenges through its global network of inventors, researchers and technologists.
Commuter benefits: Tempered Networks offers a monthly transportation stipend.
Commuting to: Belltown
Close to: Buses and the Elliot Bay Trail
Bonus perk: Unlimited vacation policy.
Their mission: Tempered Networks’ technology segments, manages and connects devices across disparate locations in order to boost security on IoT networks. The company addresses vulnerabilities that expose networks to security breaches, thereby reducing risk.
Commuter benefits: Digital Control provides free ORCA cards
Commuting to: Kent
Close to: Buses, I-5 and Sea-Tac International Airport
Bonus perk: A state-of-the-art office environment, plus sabbaticals.
Their mission: Digital Control’s technology can identify the pitch and roll of a drill head while it’s underground, which minimizes the environmental impact of installing power and water systems, as well as fiber optics cables.
Commuter benefits: Formidable offers bicycle storage, bus passes and parking reimbursement, depending on your mode of transportation.
Commuting to: Fremont
Close to: Buses, the Burke-Gilman Trail and the South Ship Canal Trail.
Their mission: Formidable’s engineering consultants help clients solve their software-related woes, specializing in the JavaScript ecosystem and a range of other coding languages. The company has partnered with a number of recognizable organizations in the past, including Starbucks and Microsoft.
Commuter benefits: A free ORCA card with unlimited rides
Commuting to: Pioneer Square
Close to: Buses, light rail and the 2nd Avenue protected bike lane
Their mission: Using paid search monitoring and regulatory compliance tools, BrandVerity helps businesses monitor how they’re being represented across every possible online channel. The goal is to help brands shape their online image suitable to each respective channel and, in doing so, establish trust with consumers.
