Waymo has announced the launch of its brand-new transit rewards programme, which will initially be offered to those within the San Francisco Bay Area.
The initiative aims to reward riders with ‘Waymo Cash’ when connecting their Waymo rides with public transit using their Visa card.
Waymo has now begun testing the programme with employees, and intends to roll the full service out to the public in the coming weeks.
Adam Lenz, Head of Sustainability & Environment at Waymo, said:Shared mobility is a team effort, and our autonomous ride-hailing service helps expand clean transportation options for everyone.
We’re thrilled to partner with local transit agencies to fill multimodal gaps and make daily commutes easier through our new transit rewards programme.
Recent surveys carried out by the company have shown that more than 50% of Waymo riders in its ‘mature’ service areas (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix) utilise public transit. This discovery has incentivised Waymo to invest directly in the new initiative, which the company has stated it hopes to make every commutes both easier and more affordable.
The transit rewards programme will work alongside existing regional transfer discount programmes, as well as the tap-to-pay model launched in the San Francisco Bay Area last December. Initially, it will apply to all 27 San Francisco Bay Area transit agencies that accept contactless Visa tap-to-pay.
In order to participate, riders will need to link their Visa card within the Waymo app, and when they are used to take a Waymo trip and public transit within 2 hours of each other, the company will automatically issue 2.85 USD in Waymo Cash – the current cost of a bus fare in San Francisco.
In addition to the new programme, Waymo has also announced a new partnership with Caltrain, which will see the former lease 40 dedicated Caltrain station parking spaces in an effort to better serve transit riders with staged vehicles.
