Waze Announces Carpool Option During Go-Tober Competition

By Joel Hillan

DENVER (CBS4) - It's Go-Tober and the competition is on.

"People are competing basically for bragging rights to see who can shift the most into those smarter modes of transportation," said Steve Erickson with the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DrCOG).

In just 10 days of competing, Erickson says commuters have been able to save 100,000 miles off their roadways.

Wednesday, Waze introduced Waze Carpool at the Google's Boulder campus.  It's an app that will help commuters connect and form carpools.

Kate Balingit, a spokeswoman for Waze Carpool, says the app will help commuters form carpools more easily.

"You just click the little icon on the bottom of Waze, you go through a simple onboarding flow and then you are ready to drive as a carpooler," she said.

Unlike Uber or Lyft, it's not professional drivers. These are coworkers or other people who share your commute.

"You have a list of potential drivers or riders, and then you click on different profiles and you can send them an offer to carpool together."

Carpool drivers can earn up to 54 cents a mile to help offset the costs of gas and car ownership -- that money comes from riders who pay the fee.

Mei Ling Anderson has been carpooling to her job at Denver Health from Erie since August 2016, when the HOV lanes were 2+.

"When the HOV went to 3+ we wandered around the office and asked where everybody lived and recruited people to join our carpool, so we could meet the new HOV requirements," she said.

Anderson says carpooling has provided additional benefits for her and her coworkers.

"It's communication that you wouldn't necessarily get in-office since we are in different parts of the building or work in different buildings. Carpooling allows us to be a more cohesive team."

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Waze Carpool is offering a $2 per ride flat rate through October. If your company is participating in Go-Tober those rides will be free of charge through the end of the month.

Joel Hillan anchors CBS4 This Morning on weekends as well as reports stories for CBS4 News at 5 and 6 p.m. Follow Joel on Twitter @joelhillan.