Hytch Rewards is a new app launched by Nissan to encourage ridesharing. It’s currently available only in Tennessee, where Nissan has it’s North American headquarters.
The concept is pretty neat. You use the app to track shared rides with other users, but no money changes hands. This really is carpooling, but with rewards. For every mile you share, as a driver or rider, you earn either 1 cent or 5 cents (depending on where you are in Tennessee). Users can cash out these rewards via PayPal.
Hytch has some big name “community partners” who are funding this project. In addition to Nissan, sponsors include Sprint, a few banks, a university and Goodwill, among others. Presumably the value to partners is the advertising and visibility in the app.
You can also use this app where rewards aren’t available. And Hytch is encouraging people to tell their employers about the app in the hopes of recruiting more partners and expanding their geographic reach. Employers can add rewards for carpooling to and from work on top of the rewards already available in the app.
In an interesting twist, users can earn rewards just for riding in public transportation or taking a cab with someone else using the app. This isn’t a hack, Hytch is encouraging this use: “So long as two or more people are connected and traveling together, the app works. Hytch Rewards was designed to work with all forms of shared transportation: carpooling, cabs, app-based ride-hailing, buses, trains, and self driving cars!”
If you live in Tennessee, download this app. It can only be profitable!