Safeway Dangles Gift Cards to Carpoolers

Sharing a ride to work may look a bit more interesting for San Franciscans who can now earn incentives from Safeway thanks to a partnership it forged with a Bay Area car pool program.

Pleasanton, CA-based Safeway recently teamed up with 511 Rideshare, an organization that pairs commuters in carpools, to reward new carpoolers with up to $100 in Safeway gift cards in its Rideshare Rewards program.

Commuters who sign up to share rides at 511 Rideshare before July 31 will earn $10 Safeway gift cards for every five days they carpool, up to $100 within a three-month period. At the end of the year, 511 Rideshare will hold a drawing to award $1,000 to a commuter who has carpooled at least 40 days during the program.

“It’s important because we know that our customers…live incredibly busy lives and as a company we were looking for ways to make their lives easier and simpler,” said Jennifer Webber, spokesperson, Safeway’s Northern California division of the carpool program. “This made sense for us because it’s going to help make people’s lives more manageable.”

The gift cards can be redeemed at 160 Safeway stores in the Bay Area.

This is a unique program by a transit agency and Safeway is pleased to provide this type of incentive, Webber said. The promotion may be the first of its kind for the supermarket chain, she added.

The Rideshare Rewards program is modest but essential, said Bay Area Council’s VP-transportation Michael Cunningham in a statement.

And timing of the new incentive program couldn’t be more promising as retail gasoline prices continue to surge throughout the state, said Tad Widby, project manager for 511 Rideshare in a statement.

Safeway has over 1,700 stores in the U.S. and Canada.