Waze Carpool Is Now Available Nationwide to Save Commuters Money and Misery
Until teleporting becomes a thing, miserable commutes will remain a way of life.
You can make driving to work more bearable, however, by sharing the ride. At least when you carpool, everybody chips in on transportation costs. And you might be able to bypass some of that traffic if your route’s on a highway with carpool lanes.
Waze Carpool is hoping to get more commuters in the car with each other instead of clogging up the roads in separate vehicles. The Alphabet-owned app pairs drivers and riders to streamline the process of organizing a carpool.
You may remember when we wrote about Waze Carpool launching in Washington state back in March. Last week, The Verge, TechCrunch and other media outlets announced the company’s expansion to all 50 states.
How Waze Carpool Works
Commuters who download the app can choose to either drive or ride. The app matches up people traveling similar routes, based on their home and work addresses.
Users can filter out potential carpool buddies based on their workplace (so coworkers can ride together) or gender (so fellow riders are only women or only men).
The service’s efficiency will vary based on the number of users in your area. The more people in your community who use the service, the greater the odds that you can find riders traveling along your route. The Verge noted that Waze Carpool will be available at 50 Amazon fulfillment centers and plans to partner with other businesses, organizations and cities.
Riders are charged no more than 54 cents per mile. Depending on where you live and how long your commute is, using Waze could be less money than paying for gas, tolls and parking for your own car — or cheaper than hailing an Uber or Lyft.
The money riders pay is said to go directly to the driver through the app. Waze Carpool is reported to make its money by selling advertisements rather than taking a percentage of drivers’ earnings.
Although drivers get compensated for picking up passengers, Waze Carpool isn’t designed as a service for drivers to make money as a side gig or in place of a full-time job. The app allows drivers and riders to make only two trips per day.
Right now, Waze is offering people $20 to refer new users to try the service, with a cap of 10 referrals, according to The Verge. Riders also can enjoy $2 rides for 21 days.
Nicole Dow is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
