Waze’s US carpooling expanded

san francisco — Google will begin offering its pay-to-carpool service throughout the US, an effort to reduce the commutetime congestion that its popular Waze navigation app is designed to avoid.

The expansion builds upon a carpooling system that Waze began testing two years ago in northern California and Israel before gradually extending it into Brazil and parts of 12 other states. Now it will be available to anyone in the US.

Drivers willing to give someone a ride need only Waze’s app on their phone.

Anyone wanting a ride will need to install a different Waze app focused on carpooling.

Riders pay a small fee to chip in for gas and other expenses. It’s supposed to be similar to what it would cost to take public transportation to work, according to the company. For instance, Waze typically sets a price of about $8 for a carpooling ride from San Francisco to Mountain View, California — the home of Google and other tech companies.

About 1.3 million drivers and passengers have signed up for Waze’s carpooling service, the company says. —