Take the Bus

This would be hilarious if they apply it to exempts headed to CompStat meetings:

• City employees will be required to take public transportation to meetings and assignments during the work day or explain why not, under a strict new mileage and travel reimbursement policy tailor-made to save $1 million.

  Mayor Rahm Emanuel ordered City Comptroller Amer Ahmad to craft the crackdown after a string of abuses made possible by the city’s liberal reimbursement policy.

  The loosey-goosey rules allowed city employees to be reimbursed for car washes, transportation to jury duty, parking tickets, excessive parking costs and even late fees on personal credit cards.

  The new guidelines—and the savings generated by them—will be built into the mayor’s 2012 budget.

  For the first time, city employees who need to go somewhere during the work day will be required to use public transportation. If that’s not possible—either because of timing, location or security—they will be required to explain those reasons on reimbursement forms.

Of course, this only applies to personal vehicle reimbursement, not take-home cars. At least, not yet. But having exempts take the El to 35th Street would "increase visibility" and make CTA riders feel safer.

Actually, why even have take-home cars? Park the car at the District and use your personal car to get to and from work - it would cut down on the abuse of using the car to transport kids or groceries around the neighborhood.