5 users test ride-hailing apps in Singapore. Here’s what they found

SINGAPORE – A team of Straits Times reporters booked trips on five ride-hailing apps – Grab, Gojek, Ryde, Tada and Zig – over three days in January, on Jan 19, 23 and 28.

They made three trips per app each day, on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, comparing fares and wait times across a total of 45 journeys.

Leaving from Toa Payoh, the team headed to various locations in the city: One Raffles Place at 9am, Ion Orchard mall at noon, and Plaza Singapura at 6pm.

These are their findings:

1. Aqil’s experience with Grab

I have been a Grab user since 2017, and while prices can be relatively cheaper compared with other apps during off-peak hours, the same does not always hold true during peak periods when surge pricing applies.

During those periods, Grab’s prices would at times surpass those charged by its competitors.

For instance, on a Wednesday during our comparison across platforms, I had to pay $24.50 for a trip from Toa Payoh to Ion Orchard, while my colleagues all got rides priced around $15.

That said, I usually did not have to worry about Grab drivers cancelling on me, although the waiting time for a ride varied significantly across the three days of our experiment.

One day, it took barely a minute from booking my ride between Toa Payoh and Plaza Singapura for my driver to show up. On another occasion, I waited 12 minutes for the driver to arrive, even though my booking from Toa Payoh to Ion Orchard was accepted in just 11 seconds.

2. Isabelle’s experience with Gojek

Gojek can be a mixed bag. Before this experiment, I would often face the “no driver available” alert and switch to another ride-hailing app, especially during peak periods.

While the weekly promo codes – ranging from a $1 to $2 discount – could keep rides fairly affordable, they were not enough of an incentive to stick to the app when surge pricing made fares significantly higher.

However, during the experiment period, Gojek was reliable, though I encountered a longer wait of 14 minutes for a driver to arrive.

In that case, the driver had accepted the booking almost immediately, and the app said he would arrive in nine minutes.

During the experiment, Gojek was mid-range in pricing among the five platforms tested.

3. Olivia’s experience with Ryde

Before this experiment, I had never used Ryde, so it was a new experience for me.

As a new user, I was surprised by how long the waits often were. Of the five reporters involved in the test, I was typically the last to get a driver. Notably, at noon on Jan 28, I waited for 15 minutes and was unable to get a driver at all. At its longest, the wait took a little over 21 minutes from the point of booking for a driver to arrive.

Additionally, Ryde’s charges were not significantly lower than those of the other apps; in fact, I found it to be even pricier on some occasions. On the evening of Jan 23, for example, it cost me $31.30 to get from Toa Payoh to Plaza Singapura. Everyone else paid lower amounts.

4. Megan’s experience with Tada

As I had never used Tada before this experiment, I was fairly excited to see how it would compare against other ride-hailing apps such as Grab or Gojek.

To my pleasant surprise, it did not disappoint.

I expected my rides to take significantly longer to arrive, so I was surprised at having to wait only an average of four minutes for each of the rides I took.

The prices were also reasonable – coming in at an average of $18 for each ride I took on Jan 23, for example – and the drivers I encountered understood clearly where to pick me up and drop me off.

5. Letitia’s experience with Zig

While my parents are Zig users, this was my first time using the app.

I was able to get a driver quite quickly most of the time, with the shortest wait for a car to arrive being just over two minutes. Still, I had my moment of despair on Jan 23 at 6pm when my booking from Toa Payoh to Plaza Singapura was cancelled thrice. I succeeded on the fourth try.

As I had difficulty setting my preferred location as the pickup point, I occasionally had to chase the taxi down as the driver drove to the other side of the block. The comments I had left earlier were not enough as a guide.

Overall, I found the app to be fairly reliable, with the rides slightly cheaper compared with some of the other apps. For instance, for my ride on Jan 19 from Toa Payoh to Ion Orchard, I paid $11.20, compared with the fares of between $12 and $14 that the rest paid.