Waze Carpool Expanding In California

Waze will expand its carpool service through more of California, according to recent reports. This expansion will see the Los Angeles metro area gain access to the potentially useful service.

Beginning June 6, Waze Carpool app users in California will be able to hitch rides (sharing costs) with drivers/commuters headed in the same direction as them — potentially allowing commuting costs to be notably cut for some people. This should also cut the number of vehicles on the road.

Previous to this rollout, Waze Carpool services have only been available to app users in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Users/riders pay less than they would through the use of Uber/Lyft-style on-demand taxi services — the idea being to simply cut fuel costs for the driver by picking up those headed in the same direction as them, not to work as a taxi driver. This ride rate is capped at the federal mileage rate of $.54 per mile, apparently.

As of right now, Waze/Google doesn’t take a cut, as on-demand taxi services do, but this is expected to change when the Waze business model strengthens.