Ride-Hailing Apps/News/Discussion
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Grab zeroes in on street hails
Five years after launching with just a taxi booking service, Grab has become the largest ride-hailing platform in South-east Asia.
It facilitates as many as 2.5 million rides each day, with more than 930,000 drivers in 55 cities and seven countries.
Now, the ride-hailing platform is eyeing a new slice of the market - street hails.
At an event marking the company's fifth anniversary yesterday, the ride-hailing platform unveiled GrabNow, its latest service for GrabBikes in Jakarta.
Commuters just have to tap on the street hailing option, which generates a code.
The GrabBike driver then enters the code into his app, and the ride is booked.
GrabNow is feasible in Jakarta, where GrabBike drivers tend to gather in small clusters while waiting for bookings, said Grab's group chief executive and co-founder Anthony Tan.
In Singapore, where private-hire cars are not allowed to pick up street hails, Grab is working with the authorities to see how the service can be implemented.
Co-founder Tan Hooi King says there is no specific date Grab is looking at to roll out the service here.
"But as you can see from everything else we have launched at Grab, things move pretty quickly. So keep your eyes peeled," she said.
GrabNow, if launched in Singapore, will allow the company to disrupt the taxi industry even further. The disruption started when Grab entered the Singapore market with its GrabTaxi services in 2013.
Uber joined a year later. There were also a handful of other private-hire services that have come and gone.
The two companies remain the dominant players in the market. And both held media events yesterday to announce new initiatives and milestones.
Uber Singapore announced that permanent residents (PRs) can now apply for a Private Hire Car Driver's Vocational Licence (PDVL) under its Fastlane Programme.
The ride-hailing company has partnered a number of fleet companies to allow PRs to apply for the PDVL at the Uber Hub. All private-hire drivers have to apply for a PDVL by July 1.
Grab has been launching new services since 2015, starting with private-hire service GrabCar and non-commercial social carpooling service GrabHitch.
The company moved on to commercial carpooling service GrabShare last year, aimed at lowering fares with shared rides. It now includes taxis as well.
Earlier this year, Grab started offering on-demand group transportation services with GrabCoach and door-to-door transport option GrabShuttle.
Mr Tan told Reuters yesterday that Grab aims to transform into a consumer technology firm that also offers loans, electronic money transfer and money-market funds. "Whether we are to execute any anytime soon, I can't share that off the top of my head," he said.
GrabNow, if launched in Singapore, will blur the lines between private-hire cars and taxis. Today, a major difference between taxis and private-hire cars is that taxis are allowed to pick up street hails.
Singapore University of Social Sciences economist Walter Theseira is concerned that private-hire drivers may not be subjected to the same rules cabbies are bound by in terms of the public service standard.
He told The New Paper: "If there are no such obligations on private-hire drivers to provide service, then I would say further moves to blur the lines between private hire and taxi concern me, because you're giving one side of the market the opportunity to make all the money, without any of the obligations."
Increased competition does not always mean good news for commuters, Dr Theseira added, citing Singapore's public bus industry as an example.
It would not work if private bus companies were allowed to compete openly and freely with the government providers.
He explained: "While some people say this is good competition, they forget that a private bus operator will run only profitable lines. They will leave all the unprofitable lines to the Government.
"But many people live along unprofitable routes and will never get service without the Government offering the buses at a loss."
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Uber driver accepts ride request, ends up in Penang cemetery
An Uber driver in Malaysia recently became an overnight sensation after sharing a encounter about accepting a ride booking from a 'passenger' in Mount Erskine, Penang.
The driver thought nothing of the booking and headed to pick up his passenger even though it was close to midnight, reports Malaysian Digest.
However, after following the location shared by passenger on the Grab application, the driver ended up outside a large Chinese cemeter.
In an interview with China Press, the driver said he checked his app to confirm that he had indeed arrived at the stated destination.
"As I followed the map to the pick-up point, I found myself near the Chinese cemetery," he told journalists.
He proceeded to wait in the car for a few minutes as he thought that the passenger was perhaps tending to a tomb and would arrive soon.
However, his 'passenger' did show up, though it was nothing he was prepared for.
"After about five minutes, there was a sweet scent in my car," he told China Press.
"Since I was already there, I wanted to get the fare. So I tapped 'Start Trip' on the app and began driving."
The indicated destination was less than 100m away, which only made things creepier.
After completing the job, he felt increasingly anxious and stopped at a nearby petrol kiosk to wash his face.
Upon returning to his car, he realised that the scent was still inside so he decided to speak out.
"I suspected something had followed me from the cemetery. I decided not to waste time feeling scared and uncertain and spoke up.
"I said that I need to go back home now. 'You' better get out, remember don't follow me back'," he remembers saying.
The scent reportedly disappeared after about five minutes.
The driver told journalists that he would continue in this line of work because “ghosts were once human too and there is nothing to be afraid of”.
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Grab could disrupt multiple businesses in ASEAN region
Founded in 2012, Grab has made numerous headlines in recent years as it expanded throughout Asia. Grab could be the biggest disruptor of businesses in ASEAN region in the next 5 years.
Editorial
Grab could operate Singapore third largest taxi business
In April 2017, SMRT was rumoured to have started talks to sell its taxi business to private-hire operator GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd. SMRT’s taxi business is the third largest in Singapore. After 27 years in the market, SMRT could be exiting this suboptimal business segment to focus on other land transport segments. This is part of SMRT’s review of its businesses since last November 2016 while it was delisted.
One reason explaining the potential exit is the need to focus on ensuring quality rail services in Singapore. SMRT’s bus businesses could also be on the way out as Singapore attempts to fix their recent problems with rail delays and stoppages.
In the same month, Grab also agreed to acquire KuDo Technology Indonesia, LLC, a payments technology firm. Grab is likely to move into e-commerce and payments space in emerging markets in ASEAN. After all, why operate a wallet just to service payments for rides?
Imagining the future for Grab
The cash burn rate to complete for mobility market share is high. Grab is effectively competing with the world’s best funded firm, Uber, for market share in Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, Grab has to compete with Go-Jek. Competition is stiff as customers seek lower fares and drivers seek fair pay. The two forces will never reconcile.
The sweet spot for Grab lies not only in fees for rides, but in the age old business of payments. Taxi rides, private-car hires should only be step one of Grab’s quest for success in Asia. With rapid acquisition of customers and merchants (all Grab registered taxis and cars), customers now have no qualms leaving a few prepaid dollars in Grab’s wallet. What if Grab decides to acquire e-services, physical products and services? Imagine the future where you could use your Grab application to pay for food and groceries through ASEAN.
The opportunities for growth are tremendous. The primary revenue source could comprise of;
- Taxi and private car hire fees
- Payment related fees
- Interest on float of deposits on Grab’s wallets
- Cross border payments fees and Forex spreads
- Remittances and transfers
Grab is seemingly only focusing on item one – fees related to mobility. But as their appetite grows, shadow banks and banks should be mindful of their potential.
Disruption across various sectors
Disruption is healthy for consumers. Today, consumers pay lesser fares and get to avoid long queues for taxis. For taxi drivers in ASEAN region, they will complain as Grab and Uber collectively introduce more competition. But transport companies will not be the last to experience discomfort.
Today, Uber has expanded to delivery of food. Foodpanda.sg will have to fend off attacks from Deliveroo and the very well-funded Uber. Grab’s expansion into commerce through KuDo sends a stern warning to physical retailers who still prefer cash. Payment intermediaries should also ready for aggressive competition in the near future.
However, the customers will emerge as the sure winners of these competitions.
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Grab is full of pattern
grab share and grab shuttle are the latest affecting taxi
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Uber to introduce car seat service for children
Parents who travel on private-hire cars with toddlers in tow have an option to get vehicles equipped with a child seat.
The service, to be introduced on 100 Uber cars on Thursday (June 15) as part of a pilot phase, is meant for children aged between one and 10. They also should weigh between 10kg and 25kg, and are not taller than 1.45m.
It can be requested via the company's app - users have to select the Uber Car Seat option when booking an UberX ride, and pay a $5 surcharge.
Uber launched the service in partnership with Taxi Baby, a company that offers car travel safety products and services for children, at an event on Wednesday (June 14).
There are plans to grow the fleet over the next couple of months, said Mr Warren Tseng, general manager of Uber Singapore. Each car seat costs over $400 but drivers can get it at a discounted rate.
"There is a need in the market for those within the ages of one and four, and we wanted to launch with the right product and right partner," said Mr Tseng.
The move comes after reports earlier this year that vehicles under private hire car services like Uber and Grab are not allowed to carry passengers under 1.35m in height without a booster seat or child restraint, leading some drivers to turn away customers.
Unlike taxis, Uber and Grab cars are not exempt from the rule in the Road Traffic Act because private hire car services are pre-booked, which "allows passengers to indicate if they require booster seats or child restraints at the point of booking", the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in February. Taxis are excluded from this ruling as they are considered "public service vehicles", while private-hire car services are not.
Uber's rival, Grab, has also been offering the GrabFamily service since last August, which are GrabCars equipped with car seat manufacturer Carfoldio's mifold Grab-and-Go seats, meant for children aged between four and seven. Passengers will have to request for GrabFamily when booking their ride, and the service costs $2 more than a usual GrabCar.
Mr Andrew Chan, head of GrabCar Singapore, said the demand for GrabFamily has been increasing, with the number of requests for the service having "doubled" since the official launch in March this year. There are currently 3,000 cars under the GrabFamily fleet.
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Wha, even children they also dun want to let go...tsk tsk tsk
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LTA has received 39,000 applications for the Private Hire Car Driver's Vocational Licence http://str.sg/4EPh
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LTA makes money again
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after offering a whopping $8 off all ride with credits top up this week, next week is down to $5 off only
so maybe uber will be more popular next week
but somehow the uber codes are like not working bery well
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Grabtaxi stop support with incentive ?...finally or temporary
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Finally
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These aren't GrabBikes – they're Grab's enforcement team
Grab today (July 3) announced it has formed a team of enforcement officers to ensure its driver-partners have the correct licenses.
Called the Grab Enforcement Team (GET), the "small team" of enforcement officers, who have several years' experience working in law enforcement and security, will be riding "Grab-branded" motorcycles and cars around the island.
Their job is to ensure that all Grab driver-partners display the proper serialised tamper-evident decals, and that they are carrying their PDVL (Private Hire Car Driver's Vocational Licence) or concession letter, and checking that they comply to the GrabCar Driver Code of Conduct.
The Land Transport Authority said last Thursday that private-hire car drivers who fail to display a licence or special decals on their windscreens may have their license revoked, and will face a fine or even jail time.
Any tampering, including defacement, altering, covering or obscuring of the decals is an offence under the Road Traffic Act. First time offenders may face a fine of up to $1,000, or a jail term not exceeding 3 months, or both, while repeat offenders may face a fine not exceeding $2,000 or a jail term not exceeding 6 months, or both. Offenders may also have their PDVL revoked.
GET officers can identify Grab drivers by their vehicle numbers, and can instantly check them against Grab's database to ensure that vehicles and drivers are licensed. Unlicensed vehicles and drivers will have their account suspended and be investigated.
A Grab spokesman told The New Paper: "Grab believes that proactive enforcement on our part is necessary to protect driver-partners on our platform, and prevent against any breach to the Road Traffic Act that can lead to a fine, imprisonment and / or PDVL suspension by the authorities."
TNP understands Uber does not have an enforcement team.
Photos of the "Grab-branded" motorbikes went viral on social media over the weekend, fuelling rumours of the launch of bike-hailing service, GrabBike, in Singapore.
The spokesman added there are no plans to launch GrabBike in Singapore.
"We launch the services that are relevant to each market. Singaporeans don't have a preference or habit to take bikes, as compared to say in Jakarta, where ojeks, a motorcycle taxi, are a common mode of transport - for speed, convenience, cost," she said.
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Poor 31 year old passenger!
That's why my family will never take private hiring.
No insurance covered, drivers can be anyone( young, old, Singaporean, PR).
By the way, its not free or cheap either!
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yes there's insurance
if cos it's not gonna be free or cheap
u r having wrong expectations
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Driver picks up passengers without private hire licence, argues with LTA officers when caught http://bit.ly/2v1sQUF
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Recently, I read somewhere where TD in Russia collectively bought a jammimg device to disrupt Grab/uber there successfully at their airport. Anyone know what it is and where to buy them??
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russia.
and if u try tt here............. hohoho.
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down to $4 off grab rides nx week when u top up credits...........
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Heard say.. now g. Will filter out those cherry picker td out of their partners..
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Originally posted by shrimpvit:
Heard say.. now g. Will filter out those cherry picker td out of their partners..
might as well dont join them
fare so low cannot make a profit
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Renting and Driving for Uber: How Much Do You Need to Work to Breakeven?
Everyone knows how expensive it is to own a car in Singapore. To get around these high prices ranging from S$100,000 and above, some savvy consumers have been resorting to renting from Uber and driving them for few hours a day to make up for the expenses. It is said that some people drive 4 hours a day for 6 days a week, and use these rental cars for their personal usage for the rest of the week. People who are interested in getting a car but can't afford S$100,000 outlays could be very interested in such a value proposition. But, what does it really take for this math to pan out? We've analysed the numbers to calculate how much you actually have to work as an Uber driver to breakeven on your rental cost.
How Much Does It Cost to Rent an Uber/Grab Car?
According to Lion City Rentals's website, it can cost anywhere between S$58 per day to S$80 per day to rent a car for driving for Uber. Combining this daily rate with Uber's various promotions for 1 year rental and driver incentives, we calculated that it costs around S$13,650 to S$21,680 to rent an Uber car for 1 year. The average cost was S$17,300 per year. While this is much cheaper than shelling out S$100,000 to purchase a car, it's still a fair amount of money more or less equal to 2x median household income in the country. Given this, just how much do you have to drive Uber to break even on this cost?
Breakeven Point: Drive At Least 2-3 Hours Per Day
According to our calculation, you need to drive at least 2 hours to 3 hours every day to breakeven on your Uber rental. Here's how the math works. According to Uber's own data, its driver partners in Singapore average about S$26.08 of revenue per hour. Given that Uber takes 20% of this as commission, it translates to roughly S$20.86 of earnings per hour for an average driver. We also estimated that an hour of driving around in Singapore costs about S$3.2 in petrol (SS$2 per litre x 1 litre per 15 km x 30km per hour x 80% for petrol discount), netting S$16.86 of gross profit for the driver. Using this figure, we can calculate roughly how many hours one needs to drive every day to earn S$13,650 to S$21,680 in 1 year: 2.12 hours to 3.36 hours per day for 365 days.
Is It Worth the Effort?
Renting a car from Uber or Grab to drive part time can be a savvy way of getting your own car for private use for cheap. Not only does it help you avoid the S$100,000 of initial payment, but it also helps you save on various things like car insurance and car loan interest. However, it seems rather unrealistic to be driving every single day after work from 6PM to 9PM just so you can get a "free" car that you can use. How many people really have that much energy and will power to do this for 365 days a year? Nevertheless, the good news is that even driving few times a week can meaningfully reduce the already "low" cost of S$13,650 to S$21,680 renting an Uber car. If you really need a car but can't afford a normal one, now you may have a legitimate alternative that can only cost you maximum of S$1,000 to S$2,000 per month, if not significantly less.
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As long as you work hard and abit of smart, in Singapore context, you still can earn money, taxis still can make, at times better than phv, just that all these taxi uncles like to KPKB ...
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Grab to raise $3.4 billion to beat Uber
Ride-hailing service Grab expects to raise US$2.5 billion (S$3.4 billion) in a record round of fund-raising to cement its lead over Uber in the region and grow its payments platform.
South-east Asia has become a key battleground for technology start-ups vying for a market of more than 600 million people, with a burgeoning middle class and a youthful demographic.
Grab's Chinese peer Didi Chuxing and Japan's SoftBank Group, both of which are existing investors, will contribute up to US$2 billion to lead the current financing round, it said in a statement yesterday.
Grab expects to raise an additional US$500 million, bringing the total to US$2.5 billion in this round, which it said would be the largest-ever single financing in South-east Asia.
It will be valued at more than US$6 billion at the close of this round, according to a source close to the company.
The Singapore-based company said it has a South-east Asia market share of 95 per cent in third-party taxi-hailing and 71 per cent in private vehicle hailing. It operates private car, motorcycle, taxi and carpooling services across seven countries in the region.
"With (Didi and SoftBank's) support, Grab will achieve an unassailable market lead in ride-sharing, and build on this to make GrabPay the payment solution of choice for South-east Asia," Mr Anthony Tan, group chief executive officer and co-founder of Grab, said in the statement.
Building on soaring user numbers of its Grab ride-hailing app and GrabPay function, the five-year-old start-up aims to transform into a consumer technology firm that also offers loans, electronic money transfer and money-market funds.
Grab bought Indonesian payment service Kudo earlier this year, and has said it is seeking more acquisitions to support rapid growth. - REUTERS
