As gasoline prices across the country continue to climb — now at an average of more than $5 per gallon per AAA — a Pittsburgh-based startup announced a revamping of its gas incentive program that is available to users of its platform across the country.
Gridwise, makers of the Gridwise: Gig-Driver Assistant app for Uber, Lyft and other contract workers, announced its Gridwise Gas incentive offering will now take off $0.50 per gallon of gasoline for those who are enrolled in the program. That's up from the previous $0.02 per gallon discount the program offered before and the company claims it's now the largest per gallon subsidy for gig workers.
Its existence is being made possible as part of a new partnership Gridwise formed with GasBuddy, a real-time fuel comparison platform powered by crowdsourcing.
The Gridwise platform is used by hundreds of thousands of gig workers across the country to monitor and track earnings, miles driven and other metrics while driving their vehicles. Gridwise CEO and Co-Founder Ryan Green is hoping the new program proves itself helpful to Gridwise's users.
"Gas prices are having a significant impact on the viability of gig-driving, as well on consumer rideshare and delivery prices," Green said in a press release. "As a company focused on helping gig-drivers maximize their bottomline, we’re glad to be positioned to further support them with bringing down a very top-of-mind expense."
To participate in the free program, Gridwise users need to order a Gridwise gas card, which can be done within the Gridwise app. Upon delivery of the card in the mail, users will then be able to use the card at "nearly all major gas stations" to receive $0.50 off per gallon on up to 100 gallons. With gas prices averaging about $5 per gallon, that's a discount of 10% and a savings of up to $50 if used for 100 gallons of gasoline.
The program's revamping is the latest news from the Pittsburgh startup since Gridwise announced the close of its $12.7 million Series A at the end of May. With those funds, Gridwise plans to hire at least 40 additional workers over the next year in roles that include design, engineering, sales, product management and others. It currently employs 20 workers, almost all of whom work out of its Strip District headquarters.
