Google Maps seems to be one of the Google services that gets feature updates most often, and today, another one is on the way. The search giant has announced an expansion of the payment options available in Google Maps, courtesy of Google Pay.
First off, there"s the ability to pay for parking spaces directly from your phone. In over 400 cities across the U.S., you"ll be able to use Google Maps to pay for your parking space Google Pay. As you approach the parking area, the option to pay for parking will pop up on the phone, and you can just provide the meter number and how long you want to be parked, though you can always extend that after the fact. This works with parking solutions from Passport and ParkMobile, so it won"t necessarily work everywhere.
In addition to parking, Google is also expanding the payment options for public transit fares. The company is adding support for more than 80 transit agencies around the world, so depending on where you live, you may soon be able to pay for bus or train rides using just your phone. You can see a list of countries where transit payments are supported here. In some locations, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, you can also buy a Clipper digital card through Google Maps.
Parking payments are rolling out in supported locations starting today, with Android users getting the feature first and iOS coming soon. The expansion for public transit payments will be available in the coming weeks on Android only, with no information provided for iOS users.