Google Maps now supports in-app payments for parking and transit fares

If you frequently get around town using Google Maps, your life is about to get a little easier. That’s because Google on Wednesday announced new tools in collaboration with Google Pay that will enable users to pay for street parking and transit services right from Google Maps.

Google said it has partnered with Passport and ParkMobile, making it easy for Maps users to pay your meter right from driving navigation in Maps. You won’t have to take your wallet out, and you won’t have to touch the meter. To pay for a meter, hit the “Pay for Parking” button when you’re close to your destination, enter your meter number, the amount of time you want to park for, and then pay.

You can also add time if your appointment goes longer than expected. That eliminates the hassle of having to run back to the meter just to add 30 more minutes.

The new Pay for Parking feature in Google Maps will begin rolling out today on Android in 400+ cities in the U.S., including Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and Cincinnati. Support for iOS is launching soon.

Meanwhile, Google is expanding the ability to pay for public transportation for over 80 transit agencies around the world. The next time you pull up transit directions, you can pay for fare ahead of time, so you won’t have to fiddle around with paying with cash or card when you get there.

While the new features add convenience to traveling around big cities, they also have health benefits when you consider we’re still in a pandemic. Over the past several months, Google has been adding new features to Maps in an effort to bring more COVID-19 information to users.

“These days, people are upping their hand sanitizing game and avoiding touching public surfaces as much as possible,” Google said in a blog post. These features allow users to do it all from their phone, so you don’t have to touch a machine that many others have touched.

The ability to pay for transit from Google Maps is expanding to 80 agencies across the world on Android in the coming weeks.

Google Maps - Navigate & Explore (Free, Google Play) →

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