With platform fees up, which ride-hailing app in Singapore offers the best value?

SINGAPORE - If you are

rushing to work during the morning peak hour,

your best bet might be Zig by ComfortDelGro – both in terms of wait time and price.

Grab was, on average, the costliest option for morning and lunchtime rides. Yet it was not the fastest from booking to a driver’s arrival, with Tada and Zig cars arriving ahead of Grab’s at times, while costing less as well.

However, in the evenings, Grab was the quickest option and the third-cheapest among five platforms, with fares nearly on a par with Gojek’s.

Ryde was the most expensive platform in the evenings, on average.

Tada generally recorded shorter wait times across the mornings, afternoons and evenings. It was the second-costliest option in the morning, but the cheapest platform at noon and in the evening.

These were the key findings by a team of Straits Times reporters who booked rides 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.

This came on the back of

some operators raising platform fees from Jan 1

, saying platform worker protections necessitated the move.

Shortly after ST’s experiment, Gojek raised its platform fee by 20 cents from February. It previously ranged from 90 cents to $1.50, but now

costs passengers between $1.10 and $1.70

.

A spokeswoman for the ride-hailing operator said the fee supports its efforts to strengthen its service offering here.

The rides started from Toa Payoh to various locations in the city – One Raffles Place at 9am to mirror the commute of an office worker, Ion Orchard mall at noon for lunch, and Plaza Singapura shopping centre at 6pm, when some might eat out after work.

While the three days are a brief window for comparison, they offer an indication of how Grab, Gojek, Ryde, Tada and Zig stacked up on indicators such as pricing and wait times during the period.

The comparison also sought to shed light on the extent to which the recent fee adjustments are shaping what users pay.

Grab and ComfortDelGro increased their platform fees from Jan 1, citing the need to contribute more to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts of drivers under the Platform Workers Act.

Under the Act, which came into effect in January 2025, platform workers born on or after Jan 1, 1995, must

contribute more to their CPF accounts

. The contribution rates for these workers will increase by up to 2.5 percentage points a year till 2029.

Platform companies are also required to contribute their share, and their rates will increase by up to 3.5 percentage points a year until 2029.

Grab passengers now pay $1.20 in platform fees, up from 90 cents before. ComfortDelGro passengers using its app-based platforms such as Zig pay between $1 and $1.30, compared with $1 to $1.20 before.

From Jan 1, Gojek’s trip start fare and minimum fare also rose by 50 cents each. The revisions were to improve drivers’ earnings.

Ryde said it will increase its platform fees by 11 cents a ride from Feb 17.

The current fee of $1.14 that is charged to fares costing $18 and below will be increased to $1.25. Fares above $18, which now draw a platform fee of $1.36, will see that amount increased to $1.47.

Tada said it has no immediate plans to raise fees.

ST’s comparison found that Tada had the cheapest fare on the Friday morning, at $18.24, which was the lowest recorded fare at 9am across the 45 trips.

Grab was the second-cheapest option that morning, at $19. Yet it also logged the most expensive fare for the whole exercise, at $38.50 on the Monday morning.

Zig had the cheapest rides at noon on Monday and Wednesday, recording the lowest fare of $11.20 across the three days at midday on Monday.

While Ryde was the fastest on the Monday morning, it had the longest waits on Wednesday and Friday at 9am, exceeding 16 minutes on both occasions.

At noon, it again had the longest wait times, with a 21-minute and seven-second wait for a Ryde car on Friday being the longest throughout the three days of the comparison.

The next-longest wait time was with Zig on Wednesday at noon, at 17 minutes.

Tada had the shortest wait in the morning, at two minutes and 10 seconds on Friday.

Grab beat that on Friday evening with a wait time of one minute and eight seconds, the shortest recorded during the experiment.

Keeping rides affordable, while sustaining drivers’ earnings

The operators told ST that they use some form of dynamic pricing, with fares adjusted based on factors such as supply and demand.

A Grab spokeswoman said that in doing so, passengers get a ride when they need one, while ensuring its “driver-partners are compensated fairly for their time and effort”.

Fares will surge when there are more people in a particular area booking a ride than there are drivers, she said. This is to encourage drivers to head there.

The spokeswoman added that since fares reflect real-time market conditions, there may be slight variations in pricing even if bookings are made from the same location only seconds apart.

However, it is unclear how such prices are determined in the first place, as the algorithms used are not publicly disclosed.

Tada founder Kay Woo said that while the platform adjusts prices based on supply and demand, it is against “predatory” surge pricing. He said his platform can offer users lower fares because it does not take a commission from drivers.

Ryde is the only other platform with a zero-commission model.

Drivers for Zig pay a commission of between 70 cents and $1 for each app-based booking that costs more than $10, while Grab drivers pay a variable rate.

While Grab declined to provide a range for its existing commissions, a report in 2023 said the service fee charged to drivers could go as high as 25 per cent and as low as negative 10 per cent.

The amount drivers end up earning is calculated based on several factors, such as pickup distance and the time taken to reach a passenger’s pickup point, said Grab’s spokeswoman.

Gojek said trip start and minimum fares are underlying parts of fares that are reviewed periodically as part of fare adjustments. “Customers always see the full trip fare upfront before confirming a booking,” its spokeswoman said.

Such reviews aim to balance affordability while providing sustainable earnings for drivers, and are a reflection of broader operating conditions and long-term platform sustainability, the spokeswoman added.

After the announcement that its platform fee would rise from Feb 17, a Ryde spokesman said the platform reviews this fee periodically.

As it does not take commissions from drivers, the fee helps support operations and regulatory obligations, such as paying drivers’ CPF contributions.

Asked about the longer waits on average for a Ryde car, due to drivers being farther away even after rides are matched, Ryde said it is typically because nearby drivers are constrained at that point.

It continues to refine its system, which considers factors such as proximity and the likelihood of fulfilment, so that riders get quicker pickups more consistently, its spokesman added.

Fleet sizes may also play a part, as platforms with a larger pool of drivers would be able to better meet demand for rides and, in theory, drive prices down.

While platforms have traditionally been circumspect about disclosing the size of their driver pools or fleets, Grab is widely seen as the dominant player.

A ComfortDelGro spokesperson said its Zig platform has more than 20,000 drivers in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Mr Woo from Tada said the platform currently has about 30,000 drivers here, or almost half the total number of drivers licensed to offer ride-hailing services, which totalled 61,001 at the end of 2025.

The other three platforms did not disclose the number of drivers on their platforms.

Drivers’ perspectives

While the changes are framed as supporting platform worker protections, a key question is whether higher fees and fares are resulting in better earnings for drivers.

Drivers ST spoke to said they did not notice tangible differences, regardless of the platforms they use.

Mr Ong Boon Tiong, 56, drives for Ryde and Tada, and previously used Grab and Uber.

His observation over the years is that he takes home more money from these platforms than with Grab, which often takes a larger cut from drivers.

“That is without taking into account labour costs, petrol costs and car rental costs,” he said. Labour costs refers to the work that drivers put in to ferry passengers.

Mr Ong is of the view that the platform fee increases are a way for operators to charge riders more, while helping to offset drivers’ CPF contributions, without eating too much into the operators’ profits.

Grab driver Uonos Mohamed, who is 74 and close to retirement, said he barely noticed increases to the amount he earns each day.

“I can’t see the amount that passengers are charged; all I can see is how much I’ll earn from the trip,” said the former Traffic Police officer.

“Every day, I just drive until I earn about $120 a day, after accounting for petrol and rent. This job keeps me busy.

Users’ choice

Ultimately, cost and wait time are the two crucial factors that influence a user’s decision on which platform to go for, said Associate Professor Amy Wong, vice-dean for the School of Business at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

If passengers are in a rush, they would prioritise the option that gets them to their destination fastest, although other factors such as income levels would also play a part in their ride-hailing decisions.

Instead of comparing across every single app, people would likely already have a set of platforms that they default to when making a booking, she said.

“These days, customers are no longer loyal to one platform,” said Prof Wong. She added that users would opt for what they deem acceptable, whether in terms of wait time or price, rather than comparing across platforms for the best deal.

For Madam Susan Siew, 61, the apps she defaults to are Grab and Tada.

The personal assistant uses the apps about three or four times weekly, mostly to travel between her home in Bedok and workplace in Changi.

She said: “Grab’s response is faster than Tada’s, even though it is more expensive at times. I am willing to pay more, especially when I am in a rush.”

For flight steward Nelson Ferdinand, cost is key. Living in Woodlands, he travels to Changi Airport at odd hours to catch flights.

“Personally, I gravitate towards using Tada because it is generally cheaper.”

While he does occasionally compare fares between ride-hailing platforms, he said it is unlikely that he will use an alternative, unless it costs less.

“All I need in a ride-hailing app is a short waiting time and for my fare to be affordable.

“But if prices increase, it is not like I have much of a choice but to take them anyway.”