Waymo customers in San Francisco will soon be able to earn credit toward future rides when they use one of the robotaxis to connect to public transit. Alphabet-owned Waymo introduced its transit rewards program Tuesday. It will start in Northern California and expand to other cities.
Waymo employees will be the first to access the program. To earn ride credit, or Waymo Cash, customers will have to link their Visa card to the Waymo app and use it to take an autonomous trip and public transit within two hours of each other. For each connected trip on public transit, riders will earn $2.85 in Waymo Cash, which is the cost of transit fare in San Francisco.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie launched a tap-to-pay option throughout the Muni transit system last year. The move to incentivize the use of public transit could broaden the appeal of Mountain View-based Waymo, which has been offering rides to the public in San Francisco since 2024. The white Jaguar I-Paces, equipped with sensors and cameras, have become a common site on the hilly streets of the city and beyond.
Waymo also recently launched its newest vehicle, a blue van dubbed the Ojai. The transit rewards program also helps position Waymo as a collaborator with public transit rather than a competitor. It could help the company’s reputation in the city, which took a hit after a robotaxi struck and killed a neighborhood cat last year.
Local officials have also raised concerns about Waymo affecting the availability of human driver jobs.
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