Jawnt at ACT: What we learned when commute managers got to use our pass

The Association of Commuter Transportation (ACT) brings together the professionals and researchers who get commuters moving more sustainably. Their members manage and advise shuttles, carpools, transit pass programs, bike benefits, and dozens of other creative ways to get universities, hospitals, and others to leave their cars at home. Jawnt is a proud member, and we were thrilled that ACT chose our hometown of Philadelphia to host their 2026 International Conference last month.

In addition to leading multiple tours, moderating a panel, and our own Ruth Miller picking up ACT’s Emerging Leader Award, we also rolled out an experiment. These 600+ attendees are usually on the side of administering pre-tax commuter and transit benefits. They’ve heard all the complaints about ease of use and compatibility from their employees. Now coming to Philadelphia giving talks about transit benefits.

How would they use a transit benefit card themselves at a conference like this? 

Leaning into the Jawnt Pass’s native flexibility

Many thousands of employees use our Jawnt Pass commuter benefit debit card to get to work. Their employer gives us a roster of eligible employees, we work with each employee to select their benefits and mail them each their own card. The card is restricted to only authorize funds for merchants approved by their employer like transit, and sometimes also parking and bikes. And both employees and admins monitor balances and spend through the Jawnt Platform.

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This past month, we treated ACT like the employer (or parent organization), and the people who usually manage those programs got to be cardholders. Every ACT International Conference participant had the opportunity to put $25 on a Jawnt Pass for transit during and after their stay in Philadelphia. ACT generously added an additional $5.80 (the cost of a SEPTA round trip ride). Participants checked in at the conference to pick up their very own Jawnt Pass, with their own name on it, activated and ready to use. Like all Jawnt Passes, these worked tapping directly onto any contactless EMV reader on SEPTA vehicles and at fare machines. 

Event attendee use and trends

Out of the roughly 600 people who registered and attended the conference, 52 requested a Jawnt Pass. The conference ran from July 26 to July 29, and the passes were active from July 26 through August 7.

• Day 1: We didn’t see much use on the first day. A single participant took one SEPTA ride.
• Day 2: In a day full of sessions and happy hours, seven participants took a total of eight rides, all on SEPTA.
• Day 3: In another full conference day, a different seven participants took seven total rides. Most of these were on SEPTA, as well as one with NJ Transit.
• Day 4: This was a half day for the conference, and many people departed for home. Fifteen unique participants took 19 rides. Again, most were on SEPTA, but some tapped through onto PATCO and the New York MTA.
• Day 5 and beyond: Once participants were back home with their Jawnt Passes, they kept tapping. A total of 33 unique participants took 53 rides on a range of systems: TriMet in Portland, the DC Metro, BART in San Francisco, Boston’s MBTA, SEPTA again, and even Sun Metro in El Paso. 

Overall, 40 participants out of 52 used their Jawnt Passes, spending $566 total on 89 trips across 10 transit agencies. The most common transaction was the $8.75 fare to the Philadelphia Airport. After August 7, all unspent balances were rolled back and donated to ACT.

Learnings for future events

This was the first time we used the Jawnt Pass in this way. A lot went well, and there are things we’d change in the future.

What went well:

• Participants loved it! We received much positive feedback, about both the workings of the card itself, as well as that the event cared enough to make it available. From one participant just after the initial announcement: “I'm overjoyed that Jawnt Pass is part of the event this year!”
• It was reliable. The funds were only spent on transit, as required by our conference partners. All attempted valid transactions were authorized at the point of sale.
• Cardholders came to our booth to monitor their transactions and balances in real time. Here’s an example of what they were able to see, and the data that we rolled up to report to ACT..

To explore next time:

• We were glad to test this pass among people who are incredibly savvy about transit passes, and a few did figure out how to transfer their whole balance to a personal transit card for future use. We suspect this happened with both Clipper ($30) and the MBTA ($20) days after the conference. This means people understand how the cards and technology work, so it was positive for our purpose, but a less transit-boosting event organizer may not feel the same way. In the future, we would likely limit the period of use to be closer to the last day of the event, and cap individual transactions to the highest price of a ticket on that system.
• It was nice of ACT to distribute the cards at registration, and we were glad to see them in everyone’s packet. They would have been more useful for the trip to the conference. Jawnt is developing the ability to issue virtual cards directly into participant’s mobile wallets (Apple Wallet, Google Wallet), and look forward to iterating with this next year at ACT’s International Conference in Anaheim!

Wan to learn more about the Jawnt Pass?

Whether it’s for standard employer pre-tax benefits or exploring transit during a conference, Jawnt is here to help you pay for your members’ mobility.  Get in touch with Jawnt today to learn more.