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Grab to offer cheaper GrabShare rides with longer waiting time to reduce detours

SINGAPORE — Starting July 8, commuters using Grab’s ride-hailing services may choose to get cheaper rides with its on-demand commercial carpooling service, GrabShare. This is provided they are willing to wait up to five minutes to get a match.

New features for carpooling service GrabShare were developed based on feedback from drivers and riders, Grab said.

New features for carpooling service GrabShare were developed based on feedback from drivers and riders, Grab said.

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SINGAPORE — Starting July 8, commuters using Grab’s ride-hailing services may choose to get cheaper rides with its on-demand commercial carpooling service, GrabShare.

This is provided they are willing to wait up to five minutes to get a match.

Grab Singapore’s country head Yee Wee Tang announced on Monday (July 1) that this latest feature is intended to minimise detours on GrabShare rides and to test the market for a new shared service on larger vehicles.

Another new feature for all of Grab’s services: Passengers will be able to view the estimated time that they will arrive at their drop-off point before choosing a ride. 

At the moment, the estimated timing is shown only when they are onboard the vehicle.

Mr Yee said that the new features were developed based on feedback from drivers and riders.

Passengers had three main gripes. “One, they wanted better visibility of their commute times. Second, they wanted cheaper fares… Lastly, they would really like to see less detours,” Mr Yee said.

“(Right now), there are times that passengers get a long detour, where the car has to go quite far away and (in the) worst-case scenario, cars have to backtrack (to pick up subsequent GrabShare passengers),” he added.

Beginning next week, GrabShare users will be able to choose between the option of being assigned a driver immediately, or waiting up to five minutes before they are assigned one and paying a lower fare for that.  

During the five-minute waiting period, GrabShare’s system will “optimise” travelling routes by pre-matching passengers’ rides with those of other parties — for example, by ensuring that passengers on the same shared ride are headed in the same direction or that the next ride is along the same way.

With these pre-matched pick-up or drop-off points and pre-planned routes, the new option will minimise detours for a more efficient ride at a lower fare, the firm said.

There will not be a fixed price difference between the two options but Mr Yee said that on average, GrabShare fares are up to 35 per cent cheaper than its fixed-fare service JustGrab. 

For example, a ride from Sin Ming estate to the Marina Bay area may cost S$15 to $17.50 via GrabShare instead of S$21 via JustGrab.

“This is really about whether we can create more efficiency by making passengers wait five minutes,” Mr Yee said. “Ultimately, this is really giving us more time to mesh the riders together to optimise the routes.”

Grab stated that there was a 20 per cent increase in GrabShare rides from end-December last year to end-June this year.

The improved GrabShare will be “a step towards” the launch of a new shared service on larger vehicles. Mr Yee had earlier told TODAY that the firm plans to launch a new “affordable” service on larger vehicles — such as 13-seaters — and has already begun testing the service.

Mr Yee could not say when the full roll-out of this new service will take place. 

WHAT GRAB USERS SAY

Most GrabShare users interviewed by TODAY said that it would be good to have the option of having a cheaper and more efficient ride, though it is early days yet to know if there would be better outcomes.

Ms Cherlyn Cheh, 26, who is unemployed, said: “When I use Grabshare, I’m usually not in much of a rush… It is only five minutes more, not 20 minutes. And if my route is going to be somewhat optimised, why not?”

A photographer in the creative industry, who wanted to be known only as Mr Loh, had similar sentiments. “Most people who take shared rides choose the option when they are not rushing anywhere. Also, when I choose GrabShare, I already know that I am going to have to wait for a while (to get to my destination), so I’ll go for the cheaper option,” the 30-year-old said.

Mr Loh, who uses the service about once a week, noted that there have been instances when drivers had to make long detours to pick up another passenger.

“Once… a driver was allocated another passenger who lived near to the highway. But to get to the passenger, the driver had to first get off the highway and sometimes, it can be another 10 minutes to the guy, so it all adds to the journey time.”

He added: “At the end of the day, it’s something that hasn’t been rolled out yet, so we don’t know the real efficiency of this change.”

Other GrabShare users remained sceptical.

Ms Rachel Lee said that the new waiting time still does not help her understand how the routes are mapped.

“I am not too sure what is Grab’s definition of ‘most optimised route’,” the 29-year-old manager in the food and beverage industry said, noting that she has encountered “last-minute detours” on GrabShare rides before.

“Grab could state that it’s the most optimal route, but it doesn’t seem so.” 

Ms Lee added that there is a “surprise element” when taking GrabShare rides, where passengers do not know who will be hopping on to their ride. And the new improvements still do not seem to give riders enough information on who else will be picked up along the way.  

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