Photo credit: VasenkaPhotography.
It’s the thing you hate the most when booking an Uber or a GrabCar: surge pricing due to increased demand, doubling or tripling your fares. And now taxis in Singapore are free to use it as well.
According to a statement by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority and the Public Transport Council, the authorities have accepted proposals by taxi companies and Grab that will allow them to introduce dynamic fixed fares on rides booked through mobile apps.
This means the app will display the total fare for your ride upfront, just like an Uber or GrabCar ride. It also means the fare will be affected by factors like passenger demand and car availability – otherwise known as surge pricing.
Grab will start offering dynamic fixed fares for taxis through a new, unannounced service.
Metered fares are not going away – GrabTaxi, for example, which is a traditional cab-hailing service, will still be available to users for this type of booking.
SMRT Taxis, one of the largest taxi operators in Singapore, today announced a deal with Grab to use its service as its exclusive third-party booking app. The company will also continue to use its own booking app.
Grab is the first app to start offering dynamic fixed fares for taxis. It will do so through a new, unannounced service. According to Channel News Asia, the new service will be called JustGrab and will assign either a taxi or a private-hire car to the user, depending on which driver picks up the booking. The fee structure will be the same one used by GrabCar.
“We are working on a new product that will enable commuters to book a dynamic fixed fare taxi ride using our app. We’ll share more details soon,” a Grab spokesperson tells Tech in Asia.
“Dynamic fixed fare connects taxi drivers to a growing pool of commuters who prefer fare certainty provided by services like GrabCar. We believe this additional option provides drivers with more job opportunities,” the spokesperson adds.
“The market has evolved and matured significantly, and more customers are now open to having dynamic fixed fares for their taxi rides. This partnership with Grab allows us to keep the pricing for our services competitive, catering to different customer needs and preferences,” says Tony Heng, managing director for SMRT Taxis, in a statement.
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