S’pore commuters can book shared rides on Grab from Jan 16 under new trial

SINGAPORE - After a hiatus of almost three years, commuters can once again book shared rides on private-hire cars and taxis using ride-hailing app Grab as part of a limited 14-day trial, from Jan 16 to 29.

The company said on Tuesday that the trial of its GrabShare service – which allows multiple passengers headed in the same direction to share a ride for lower fares – coincides with the Chinese New Year period, and this means more rides will be made available during the festive season when some drivers may be on a break.

During the trial, bookings for shared rides can be made only during evening peak hours between 5pm and 11pm from selected areas, including the downtown core, River Valley, Outram and Buona Vista, where demand is expected to be high.

There are hopes that the trial will be expanded here after Jan 29, but Grab did not give a timeline for when the ride-sharing service will be fully relaunched.

Fares for the shared rides are expected to be up to 20 per cent lower than those for non-shared rides.

GrabShare, which was launched in Singapore in December 2016, was suspended on Feb 9, 2020, amid concerns over the spread of Covid-19 among passengers during the early days of the pandemic.

The reintroduction of the service in Singapore follows a similar relaunch in the Philippines in November 2022.

With the relaunch, Grab has also made changes to how GrabShare will work based on feedback the company received from drivers and passengers regarding earlier versions.

A Grab spokesman said the trial will allow the company to monitor whether the revamped service is running smoothly and whether it is able to balance the different expectations of all parties.

“We encourage passengers to be considerate towards their fellow passengers and drivers to minimise waiting time or cancellations. We will assess feedback from users after this trial before deciding if we will expand the service to more areas,” the spokesman added in response to queries.

Previously, a GrabShare ride was confirmed after a driver was assigned. Other matching passengers were allocated en route, and this often led to unexpected detours and delays if a new booking request suddenly came in.

It was a major bugbear that Grab had tried to resolve in 2019 with a

“wait and save” option that offered slightly lower fares

than those under the earlier version of ride-sharing, in exchange for a waiting time of up to five minutes. This allowed for better pairing of passengers such that chances of a sudden detour were smaller.

With the newest version of GrabShare, all shared rides will be matched upfront, which means a ride will be confirmed only after two passengers headed in similar directions are matched.

This may take up to seven minutes so that the best match can be found, Grab said in a list of frequently asked questions published on its website.

If passengers cannot find another commuter with a similar route, they will be prompted to book a regular non-shared ride instead.

Other changes that Grab made to the service include limiting the number of bookings per shared ride to two, and the number of passengers per booking to just one. Previously, up to three bookings could be allocated to each shared ride and up to two passengers were allowed per GrabShare booking.

Grab said passengers will now also be charged a $4 fee if they cancel their shared ride after it has been allocated to them. This fee will go fully to the driver, and the other passenger’s booking will proceed, the company said.

Additionally, only cashless payment methods will be accepted with the new version of GrabShare, Grab added.

Meanwhile, the company’s waiting time grace period of three minutes for regular ride-hailing services will also apply to the shared service.

The return of GrabShare has drawn mixed reactions from commuters and drivers.

Ms Janice Ng, 26, who works in marketing and used GrabShare occasionally before it was suspended, said her previous experience with the service was positive, as it was cheaper and relatively smooth.

“I will definitely try this new trial if the situation calls for it,” she said.

Grab driver Roy Lee, 42, said he will consider taking up GrabShare rides during the upcoming trial. “I think it’s good if the system is able to pair jobs efficiently.

“The fares may seem cheaper, but if there’s not much distance between both pickups and dropoffs, then earnings would be better than just doing single trips. Plus it helps with job count too.”

Private-hire driver Joseph Goh, 57, who had also used GrabShare before the pandemic, said he will need to try out the redesigned service before he can tell if it will be beneficial to him.

There are still worries about the lower fares and last-minute cancellations by passengers, which were an issue previously.

“It is good for passengers because there are more options, but drivers used to face a lot of problems... Drivers would much rather earn the fare than the $4 cancellation fee,” Mr Goh added.