Transit and parking draw new users to mobile wallets, and Google is expanding both features to add use cases for its payment app.
Google has partnered with Charlotte, North Carolina-based Passport and Atlanta-based ParkMobile to enable consumers to pay for parking in cities, universities, airports, stadiums and through private operators using Google Pay within its Google Maps app. Google is also expanding its transit payment feature to allow 80 transit agencies to support Maps to pay transit fares.
The feature allows consumers to receive transit directions with the option to pay with phones or cards already linked to your Google Pay account. In markets like the San Francisco Bay Area, users can buy a digital Clipper card directly from Google Maps.
“We know people are constantly jumping between navigation and parking apps. This new feature enables users to navigate to their destination and then quickly pay for parking in one seamless experience,” said Jon Ziglar, CEO of ParkMobile, in a release.
This latest update to enable consumers to use Google Pay is part of a larger initiative Google is using to expand use of its payments feature to tackle everyday transportation challenges such as mass transit and parking vehicles. Google earlier added a cloud-based transit system through a
Rival Apple has seen the tremendous opportunity in enabling Apple Pay as a gateway for mass transit services, making its wallet become an everyday spending tool. The tech firm upgraded its Apple Pay in 2019 to allow consumers to enter transit systems via an iPhone without requiring Face ID or Touch ID through a feature called
Transit ridership is down during the pandemic, which has provided an opportunity for systems to add payment technology to attract riders back as the economy recovers.
"The pandemic made it an absolute necessity to provide safe ways to execute payments at transit agencies globally," said James Gooch, head of marketing for Masabi, a transit technology company. "There's going to be a huge demand for mobile ticketing. Fundamentally mobile ticketing can be deployed quickly."
That includes moving transit payments away from closed systems to more open mobile wallet-powered ticketing and entry.
"Account based ticketing brings the convenience of noting having to buy tickets or a card," Gooch said. "You're simply tapping to ride public transport."
Google’s partnership with Passport first began in September 2020 when the parking provider integrated its Austin, Texas inventory with Google Maps. This next phase will allow consumers to pay for parking using Google Pay within Maps. Passport will be enabling its clients on Google Maps which includes more than 1,000 cities, universities and agencies, including Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles and Miami.
“Google Pay and Google Maps were able to seamlessly incorporate Passport’s software, which helped us bring this feature to life,” said Vishal Dutta, product manager of Google Maps at Google in a release.
In November, Google Pay was overhauled to add in-app banking from Citi and Stanford FCU, as well as other banks. Google Pay features are centered on three areas: a Pay tab for purchases and P2P payments; an Explore tab for rewards and offers; and an Insights tab that enables spend tracking and receipt management. The app will also let users create a Plex account, which is a mobile-first bank account that is integrated into Google Pay and will be offered by banks and credit unions with no monthly fees, overdraft charges or minimum balance requirements.
The partnership with ParkMobile also expands work the startup had been piloting with Google Pay since its redesign last November. Currently, ParkMobile’s integration with Google Pay enables users to pay for parking in over 240 cities across the U.S. without needing to download a separate parking app or create an account. Now with the new Google Maps feature, users can navigate to their destination and quickly pay for parking at most locations where ParkMobile is accepted. This new feature starts rolling out on Android today and will be coming to iOS soon.
The opportunity to capitalize on the needs of the global parking industry is enormous as it generated more than $3.6 billion in revenues in 2019. Based on data from a press release from the global parking management market’s revenues are expected to climb at a compounded annual growth rate of more than 10% and reach over $5.7 billion in revenues in 2025, according to
