Trainers,
Back in October of 2025, Niantic announced that select areas in France, Italy, and Spain would be getting some test Pokéstops appearing on their gameboard. These stops would be at pedestrian-friendly locations such as street corners and bus stops.
From the original post:
We’re embarking on an exciting test to measure the impact of adding Niantic-generated Wayspots in safe, pedestrian-friendly locations like street corners and bus stops. This means an increase in new gameplay opportunities in areas that lack Wayspots for basic gameplay. This initial experiment is currently taking place exclusively in selected areas of France, Italy, and Spain. If this goes as we expect, we might expand into more countries!
Yesterday, the team announced that this experiment would continue in the United States. Pokéstops are already appearing across the country on street corners and at bus stops. Niantic did clarify that these stops will only appear in the 50 States, and not any of the territories. (Sorry, Puerto Rico)
What’s Happening?
Niantic will be adding Pokéstops to areas with what Niantic is called “low Wayspot density” which is their way of saying areas with fewer Pokéstops. This is being done to enhance gameplay and increase accessibility, and also as a test to see what impact adding Niantic-generated Pokéstops has on local gameplay.
Important Information About These Stops
This does NOT mean that every single street corner and bus stop is now eligible to be nominated through Wayfarer.
- These stops are all being added as a test by Niantic and are not added through the Wayfarer system. Please read through the Wayfarer criteria before submitting any new wayspots
- These stops will all be named very similarly, “Street corner at street name A and street name B” and “bus stop name”.
- Each of these locations will soon feature a distinctive Niantic-generated Wayspot photo.
- These stops will not be editable. If you discover an error with a stop, you are encouraged to visit the Wayfarer Forums and report the error directly to the team.
- The team will be monitoring the existing stops in France, Italy, and Spain, along with all of the new stops in the United States, over the next few
- These new Pokéstops cannot become gyms, however can count towards the number of Pokéstops in a cell to trigger a gym. If you’d like to read more about the requirements and cells, you can check out our article here.
Parting Thoughts
It’s important to remember that as these stops to live across the United States, this does not change the Wayfarer criteria at all. These stops are experiments run by Niantic to see what impact Nianitc generated Pokéstops have on Pokémon GO gameplay. Bus Stops and Street Corners are not automatically eligible now.
One of the biggest issues that Pokémon GO players have had since the launch of the game is the playability of the game in more rural areas. As the Pokémon GO gameboard is largely populated by user-generated content through the Wayfarer program, players are bound by the rules of Wayfarer when they are nominating new Points of Interest to become Wayspots, and hopefully Pokéstops and/or Gyms.
In more rural areas, the number of eligible Points of Interest is typically a lot lower than in bigger cities. This has led to a lot of debate over the years about how to best serve rural communities and level out the playing field a little bit. This experiment is a large step in that direction, and we hope that Niantic continues to investigate ways to further reach out into more rural communities and give them the stops and gyms that they need to play the game in a more meaningful way.
