Transit rewards (Waymo pays you to obtain the train)

Today, Waymo is enthusiastic to province our transit rewards program, which we volition initially recommendation in the San Francisco Bay Area, alongside forthcoming cities to follow. This first-of-its-kind undertaking rewards riders alongside Waymo Cash whenever they nexus their Waymo rides alongside community transit and use their Visa card. We’ll commencement alongside employee admission before gradually rolling out to the community in the coming weeks.

Public transit networks and shared autonomous vehicles are part of a complementary movement ecosystem. As transit agencies modernize their fee systems to obtain tap-to-pay debit and credit cards, multimodal trips are becoming additional convenient than ever. 

"Governor Newsom has challenged all of us to build a transport scheme that meets Californians anywhere they are, and that method making the trip to the position as effortless as the train journey itself," stated California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin. "CalSTA welcomes innovations that reward group for choosing transit and create a multimodal trip awareness akin one seamless journey."

Recent surveys display that complete 50% of Waymo riders in our most mature assistance areas (San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix) use community transit, so we’re arrogant to allocate immediately in this connectivity to create mundane commutes easier and additional affordable. The transit rewards program plant alongside the local transfer discount programs and tap-to-pay example launched in the San Francisco Bay Area final December. The program applies to all 27 San Francisco Bay Area transit agencies that obtain contactless Visa tap-to-pay.

“San José has continually believed innovation should create mundane existence activity better,” stated San José Mayor Matt Mahan. “This alliance does exactly that by using new innovation to fortify community transit, not substitute it, making local journey additional seamless and giving group additional ways to get anywhere they need to go.”

To participate, riders volition nexus their Visa cardstock in the Waymo app. When riders in the SF Bay Area use their Visa cardstock to obtain a Waymo trip and community transit inside 2 hours of all other, we volition automatically matter $2.85 in Waymo Cash, which is the disbursal of a bus diet in San Francisco. 

Alongside the initiate of our transit rewards program, we’re additionally announcing a alliance alongside Caltrain, which accepts tap-to-pay. Waymo volition lease 40 dedicated Caltrain position parking spaces to improved assist transit riders alongside staged vehicles. This is a example we anticipation to replicate alongside additional transit agencies, ultimately enabling additional seamless connections between Waymo’s assistance and community transit.

This initiate is the next stage toward making our imagination of shared movement a reality. By taking the learnings from our transit credit aviator programs in San Francisco and Los Angeles, adding Waymo’s assistance to the LA Metro Mobility Wallet program, and kicking off a strategic microtransit alliance alongside Via in Chandler, AZ, we’ve been steadily learning what it takes to recommendation a prosperous transit integration merchandise and are pleased to formally initiate transit rewards.

“Shared movement is a squad effort, and our autonomous ride-hailing assistance helps develop spotless transport options for everyone,” stated Adam Lenz, Head of Sustainability & Environment at Waymo. “We’re thrilled to partner alongside local transit agencies to inhabit multimodal gaps and create regular commutes easier through our new transit rewards program.”

Our goal is to develop this transit rewards program and transit agency partnerships to additional cities complete time, ultimately making shared, all-electric transport additional accessible and affordable for everyone.