Waze, Wonolo Pair On The Gig Economy Commute

On-demand staffing platform Wonolo has announced a partnership with Waze Carpool to provide carpooling services for Wonolo’s community of more than 300,000 local gig workers.

The partnership, which comes after Wonolo’s $32 million Series C funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures, is rolling out to the Bay Area and Chicago markets first, but is expected to expand nationwide at a later date. To celebrate the launch, Waze Carpool rides will be free to all active Wonolo gig workers in the Bay Area and Chicago through the end of January.

“Wonoloers are our number one priority, and we’ve heard countless feedback from them that transportation issues are their number one hurdle to overcome. This partnership with Waze Carpool was a natural next step for us — its unique carpooling solution supports our goal of ensuring temporary employees and gig workers are provided with many of the same resources and opportunities full-time employees typically receive,” Yong Kim, CEO and co-founder of Wonolo, said in a press release. “Josh Fried and the Waze Carpool team are unbeatable partners in this program, and we’re excited to team up to create a new solution to help Wonoloers sign up for jobs without worrying how they’ll get there.”

Launched nationally in October, Waze Carpool now has 110 million monthly active users globally. The service allows riders and drivers find people to commute with based on their profiles, ratings, number of mutual friends and other search characteristics, such as gender, co-worker, classmate and closeness to your route.

“We’re incredibly excited to be working with Wonolo, a progressive and exciting company leading the charge in the future of temporary work with a commitment to supporting gig economy workers,” said Josh Fried, Head of Waze Carpool. “Commuting can be a pain for anyone, but with Waze Carpool, we’re making it easier for riders and drivers to carpool together while saving time, money, and the environment.”