Frequent flyer programs are a frustrating paradox. As humans, we’re always on the hunt for a discount, but how often do most of us fly? Once every few months? Once a year? For the most part, we spend far more time traveling in a car or bus, on a bike, or on foot. To the right kind of mind, that sounds like an opportunity, which is why a new Silicon Valley startup called Miles has built a rewards program for all these other modes of transportation. The cost? You have to let Miles follow you everywhere.

As spotted by The Daily Dot, the free iOS app called Miles lets you earn points simply by getting up and going somewhere, whether it’s by foot, car, bus or plane. Rack up enough points and you’ll be able to redeem gift cards and discounts for retailers like Amazon, Starbucks and Whole Foods, to name a few.

The app is designed to encourage eco-friendly travel, so the amount of reward miles, or points, you earn depends on your mode of transport. One mile in a car translates to one mile earned through the app, but a ride in an Uber or Lyft will get you double the points. Public transportation yields three points per mile, biking is five points per mile, and walking is 10 points per mile.

Flying, on the other hand, will only accrue 0.1 points per mile. You won’t have to log your trips either because they’re recorded automatically in the app. Of course, for this to work, users have to allow the app to track their location at all times, which might make some people squeamish for privacy reasons.

The app’s CEO told The Verge that raw data collected from the app isn’t shared with the company’s partners — only abstract insights about your movement patterns.

To contextualize how much you’d need to travel to reap the rewards, something like a US$5 Starbucks or Amazon gift card requires 2500 reward miles (or 250 miles of walking, for instance). Still, if you’re OK with sharing your travel patterns with companies, it’s a passive way to cut costs on items you’d already be buying (like groceries or your go-to morning latte). The app isn’t currently available on Android but it should be coming soon.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【悖论】bèilùn paradox a self-contradictory and false proposition

【感到生气】gǎndào shēngqì squeamish offended or disgusted

飞行常旅客计划是个使人沮丧的悖论。我们人类总想找打折的机会，可大多数人多久才飞一次呢？几个月？一年？总体而言，我们坐小汽车、大巴、骑车或者走路的时候居多。这么一想，似乎是个机会，硅谷的一家名为Miles的初创公司就开发了一款应用回馈采用其它出行方式的人。代价呢？就是让Miles时刻知道你的行踪。

据Daily Dot网站报道，这款名为Miles的免费苹果应用让你起床出门就能赚积分，无论是步行、乘车、乘巴士还是乘飞机。攒够了积分就可以换取礼品卡和亚马逊、星巴克、全食超市等零售商的折扣券。

这款应用意在鼓励环保的出行方式，奖励给用户的积分多少取决于你所选择的交通工具。乘私家车走1英里（1.6公里）在应用上的积分为1分，但乘坐优步或来福车则会获得双倍积分。乘坐公共交通工具每英里可获得3分，骑车每英里可获得5分，而步行可获得10分。

然而，乘坐飞机每英里只能获得0.1个积分。用户无需填写旅行日志，应用会自动帮你记录。当然，要实现自动记录，用户必须允许应用一直追踪自己的位置，这可能会因为隐私问题被一些人诟病。

该应用的首席执行官告诉The Verge网站说，应用所收集到的原始数据不会和公司的合作伙伴共享，只会分享关于用户出行模式的抽象分析报告。

那么你要走多少路才能获得奖品呢？一张5美元的星巴克折扣券或亚马逊礼品卡需要2500分（步行250英里所获得的积分）。所以，如果你不介意和其他公司分享你的出行模式，你购买本来就会买的日常物品（比如食品杂货或早晨的拿铁咖啡）时就能被动省钱了。

目前该应用无法在安卓系统中使用，但安卓版应该很快就能上线。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)