Unusual employer commuter benefit

I asked this yesterday in the help thread, but I'm still confused. I've used commuter benefit savings before but, my the way my new employer does it is that they that they withhold it from your paycheck, only, rather than give you a card.

"In simple terms, we lower your gross pay to reflect your commuter spending so when you file your taxes for 2017, the amount you spend per year on commuting is not calculated into your gross earnings—money is not actually set aside or taken out of your paycheck, it's more like an allocation to save on taxes. You may continue to pay for transportation as you have done already."

The explanation seems off, but maybe I'm not used to this. Am I missing something?

Edit: I am going to try to access ADP, to check my paychecks to clarify where the money is going.

Edit2: I checked my pay stub, as requested. What they do is deduct the "benefit" by the amount I asked for. Below that, they make an adjustment and it gets added back in, with an asterisk that this amount is not reported as federal income. So, yes, this benefits people who don't use public transportation more than people who do. It's unusual, but I do get the money - it's immediately added back into my paycheck right after it's deducted.