GrabCab to launch in July with 40 new Toyota Prius taxis for a start

SINGAPORE – GrabCab vehicles will hit the roads from July as Singapore’s sixth and newest taxi operator launches its services, with 40 cabs in its fleet for a start.

Announcing this in a media briefing on June 4, GrabCab, a subsidiary of Grab’s rental arm GrabRentals, said it will be launching its taxi services with 40 new fifth-generation electric hybrid Toyota Prius cars.

The company also said it will be adding more models to its fleet, including the electric hybrid Hyundai Kona from August and a fully electric vehicle “some time” in 2025.

GrabCab noted that it would like to meet the minimum fleet size requirement of 800 taxis for the street-hail operator licence before the third year of operations.

Under the licence, GrabCab will have a grace period of three years to progressively expand its fleet to meet the minimum fleet size requirement of 800 cabs.

Mr Victor Sim, director of GrabRentals, said that, as at June 4, the operator has received 700 to 800 registration applications from prospective drivers who expressed interest in renting a GrabCab vehicle.

Of these, about 400 to 500 eligible applicants have been selected as part of the first pool of drivers.

Mr Sim said GrabCab has chosen applicants with a taxi driver’s vocational licence (TDVL) and “good safety records” based on the driving demerit points they have accumulated.

Applicants without a TDVL will be directed to take a TDVL course at approved training centres, with the course fees fully funded by GrabCab.

Appointments for pre-registered drivers started at 10am on June 5, while registration will be open to all eligible drivers from June 9.

Rental rates for a GrabCab vehicle start from $117 a day, with the first 100 drivers who sign up getting a rate of $112 a day.

In comparison, the rental rates for a Toyota Prius under other taxi operators are around $110 a day for ComfortDelGro, $109.80 a day for Prime Taxi and $100 a day for Strides Premier.

Information on taxi rental fees for Trans-Cab was not available. Another operator, CityCab, is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro.

In terms of GrabCab fares for a four-seater standard vehicle, the flag-down fare will be $4.60, while the distance rates will be 26 cents for every 400m under 10km, and 26 cents for every 350m after 10km. There is also a fee of 26 cents for every 45 seconds of waiting.

Fares for the Toyota Prius model under ComfortDelGro, Trans-Cab, Strides Premier and Prime Taxi are identical and cost $14.48 for a 12km ride, inclusive of 7½ minutes of waiting when a taxi is stationary or moving slowly in traffic.

The distance between Toa Payoh and Kent Ridge by car is around 12km.

For GrabCab fares for a four-seater electric vehicle, the flag-down fare will be $4.80. The distance rates will be 26 cents for every 400m under 10km, and 26 cents for every 350m after 10km, with a fee of 26 cents for every 45 seconds of waiting.

Mr Sim said GrabCab’s passenger fare structure is pegged to what other operators are charging.

The taxi meter is fully integrated with the Grab platform, added Mr Sim, so its drivers can access ride-hail and street-hail jobs easily by scanning a QR code displayed on the meter with the Grab driver app.

Drivers can use the in-app relief driver matching service to chat with prospective partners located near them.

Mr Sim said they may feel more assured in searching for a driving partner using this method, as GrabCab conducts a “pretty tight screening process” with regard to safety records.

He added that, at present, drivers working for other taxi operators have to contact a call centre or access a desktop web portal to find a relief driver partner.

When asked about the advantage GrabCab has over other taxi operators, Mr Sim said the benefits it can offer drivers come from its technological hardware and strong partnerships with the industry, including charging point operators and fuel stations.

This is how GrabCab can offer its drivers fuel discounts and electric vehicle charging discounts of up to 25 per cent at some providers, he added.

“We will focus on the national supply (of drivers) problem,” said Mr Sim. He noted that GrabCab is focusing on “reactivating” the relatively large pool of inactive drivers with TDVLs and reaching out to potential drivers who are on the fence about getting a TDVL.

GrabCab wants to avoid recruiting drivers from other taxi companies as this would not grow the pool of available taxi drivers in the country, Mr Sim added.

In a statement issued on May 30 to Strides Premier taxi drivers, who also use the Grab platform, Grab said there will be no change to the job allocation algorithm on its app, even with the introduction of GrabCab. It added that there will be no preferential treatment that allows trips to be assigned to GrabCab drivers instead of Strides Premier drivers.

When asked about this statement, Mr Sim said some Strides Premier drivers had concerns that GrabCab would affect how jobs were allocated to them.

He clarified that GrabCab’s aim is to “grow the pie” and “not to split the pie, or take some from (them)”.

Correction note: The fare for a 12km ride on a Toyota Prius taxi has been updated in this version of the story.