Last Updated: January 1, 2025 • Effective Date: January 1, 2025
Summary: GoPool, Inc. ("GoPool," "we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and what rights you have over your information. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
GoPool, Inc. is a carpooling and commuter matching platform incorporated in the State of Delaware with its principal place of business at 340 Pine St Suite 800, San Francisco, CA 94104. GoPool operates the gopool.house website and associated mobile applications (collectively, the "Platform"). For privacy inquiries, contact privacy@gopool.house.
We collect information you provide directly, information generated through your use of the Platform, and in some cases, information from third parties.
Account Registration: When you create a GoPool account, we collect your name, email address, phone number, and a password you choose. You may also optionally provide your employer name and workplace address.
Identity Verification: To ensure platform safety, all users must complete identity verification. This process involves uploading a government-issued photo ID and a real-time selfie for biometric matching. GoPool uses a third-party identity verification provider for this process. We retain a record of your verification status and do not store the raw ID document images after verification is complete.
Driver Verification: Drivers additionally provide their driver's license number and consent to a motor vehicle record (MVR) check conducted through our background screening partner. We retain the result of the MVR check (approved/declined with flags noted) and repeat the check annually.
Commute Profile: You provide your home address or pickup area, your workplace address, preferred commute schedule, vehicle information (if driving), and commute preferences. This information is the core of our matching service and is required for match generation.
Payment Information: We collect payment card or bank account information to enable automatic cost-splitting between carpool participants. Payment data is processed by our third-party payment processor (Stripe) and is not stored directly by GoPool except for tokenized payment method identifiers that allow recurring use.
Communications: If you contact GoPool support, submit a safety report, or communicate with other users through our in-app messaging system, we retain those communications as records of your interactions with the Platform.
Profile Content: Profile photos, biographical descriptions, and commute preference responses that you add to your profile.
Trip Data: For every trip completed through GoPool, we collect GPS location data tracking the vehicle's route, pickup and dropoff coordinates, trip start and end times, and trip duration. This data is used to verify trip completion, calculate cost splits, generate carbon savings estimates, and investigate safety reports.
Location Data: During active trips, we collect continuous GPS location data from all participating devices (driver and riders, where location permission is granted). Outside of trips, we may collect coarse location data to improve match suggestions and service quality, subject to your location permissions settings in your device.
Device Information: We collect standard device identifiers, operating system version, app version, and IP address. This information is used for security monitoring, fraud prevention, and service improvement.
Usage Data: We collect information about how you use the Platform, including screens visited, features used, search terms entered, and time spent on various parts of the app. This data informs product improvements.
Match and Rating Data: We collect data on matches offered, accepted, and declined, as well as post-trip ratings and reviews that you and your carpool partners submit about each other.
Identity Verification Provider: Our identity verification partner returns a verified/not verified status and, where applicable, flags that indicate why verification was not completed. We do not receive the raw document data from this provider.
Background Screening Provider: Our background check partner returns structured results of MVR checks, including license status and flagged violations.
Workplace Verification: When you use workplace email verification, we receive confirmation from the email provider that the address is valid and matches the claimed employer domain.
Referral Partners: If you join GoPool through an employer-sponsored program, we may receive your work email address and employer name from that employer for the purpose of creating your workplace-verified account.
Providing the Platform: The primary use of all collected data is to provide and improve the GoPool carpooling matching service. This includes generating match suggestions, facilitating trip coordination, calculating and processing cost splits, and maintaining accurate user profiles.
Safety and Security: We use identity verification data, background check results, trip location data, and community ratings to protect the safety of all GoPool users. This includes monitoring for safety incidents, investigating reports, and enforcing platform policies.
Account Management: Your registration and contact information is used to manage your account, send service communications (trip confirmations, payment receipts, safety alerts), and respond to your support requests.
Carbon Impact Reporting: Trip data is aggregated to calculate personal and community-level carbon savings estimates, which are displayed in your GoPool dashboard and in our platform-wide sustainability reporting.
Product Improvement: Aggregated and anonymized usage data informs our product development, helping us understand how to improve match quality, usability, and platform performance.
Legal Compliance: We use and disclose personal data as required to comply with applicable laws, respond to lawful legal process, and protect GoPool's rights and the rights of our users.
Communications: We may send you service-related communications and, if you have consented, promotional communications about GoPool features, programs, and events. You may opt out of promotional communications at any time.
With Carpool Partners: When a carpool match is formed, limited profile information (name, profile photo, verified status, community rating, and workplace if workplace-verified) is shared between matched users to enable coordination and establish trust. Your home address is never shared directly; only the designated pickup location you specify.
Trusted Contacts: If you designate trusted contacts for trip safety monitoring, those contacts receive real-time location data during your active trips as described in the Safety features section of the Platform.
Service Providers: We share information with third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf, including our identity verification provider, background screening provider, payment processor, cloud hosting provider, analytics services, and customer support platform. These providers are contractually obligated to use data only for the purposes of providing services to GoPool and to maintain appropriate security standards.
Enterprise Customers: If your account was created through an employer-sponsored GoPool for Teams program, we share carpool participation data (but not trip location details) with that employer for program administration, sustainability reporting, and commuter benefit management. The scope of data sharing with enterprise customers is governed by our enterprise service agreements.
Legal Requirements: We disclose personal data when required by law, court order, or other legal process, and when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to protect GoPool's legal rights or the safety of our users or the public.
Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of GoPool's assets, user data may be transferred as part of the transaction. We will provide notice of any such transfer and the choices available to users.
We do not sell personal data to third parties for their marketing purposes.
We retain personal data for as long as your account is active and for reasonable periods thereafter to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Specific retention periods include:
Access: You may request a copy of the personal data GoPool holds about you by submitting a request to privacy@gopool.house. We will respond within 30 days.
Correction: You can update most of your profile information directly through the GoPool app. For information that cannot be self-updated (such as verification records), contact privacy@gopool.house.
Deletion: You may request deletion of your GoPool account and associated personal data. We will process deletion requests within 30 days, subject to retention requirements for legal compliance and safety records. Deletion of your account removes you from match suggestions and terminates active carpooling arrangements.
Portability: You may request a machine-readable copy of your trip history, savings data, and profile information in a structured format.
California Privacy Rights: California residents have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), including the right to know what personal information is collected, the right to delete personal information, and the right to opt out of sale of personal information. GoPool does not sell personal information. To exercise your California rights, contact privacy@gopool.house or call +1 415 555 0247.
Communication Preferences: You may opt out of promotional email communications by clicking the unsubscribe link in any promotional email or by updating your communication preferences in the GoPool app. You cannot opt out of service communications (trip confirmations, safety alerts, payment receipts) while your account is active.
Location Permissions: You can control location data collection through your device's operating system settings. Disabling precise location during trips will limit the functionality of real-time tracking and route verification features.
GoPool implements industry-standard technical and organizational security measures to protect personal data against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include encryption of data in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256), access controls and authentication requirements for all systems containing personal data, regular security assessments and penetration testing, and employee training on data security and privacy practices.
No security system is impenetrable. In the event of a data breach that may affect your personal data, we will notify you and applicable regulatory authorities as required by law.
GoPool's Platform is not directed at or intended for use by individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a person under 18, we will promptly delete that information. If you believe we may have collected data from a minor, contact privacy@gopool.house.
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, the Platform, or applicable law. When we make material changes, we will provide prominent notice through the Platform and by email to your registered address. Your continued use of GoPool after the effective date of any updated Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.
For questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Policy or your personal data, contact:
GoPool, Inc. — Privacy Team
340 Pine St Suite 800
San Francisco, CA 94104
Email: privacy@gopool.house
Phone: +1 415 555 0247