SINGAPORE - It had promised to "revolutionise" taxi bookings in
Singapore by connecting cabbies with passengers who were willing to
pay more to be picked up. But taxi-booking app GrabTaxi has hit a
speed bump in Singapore.
By next year, it will remove its much-touted reward system for
drivers, which allows customers to offer cabbies a tip for picking
them up.
This comes after a recent discussion that GrabTaxi's founders had
with the Land Transport Authority (LTA), said a company spokesman,
and the move is to "ensure GrabTaxi is compliant with Singapore's
regulations".
He declined to elaborate on the regulations.
When approached, LTA said it is "reviewing the impact of
taxi-booking applications which are developed by third parties
(and) which it currently does not regulate".
LTA added that "taxi drivers are not allowed to overcharge their
passengers by collecting fares that are not set or exceed those set
by their taxi operator".
GrabTaxi's reward function will remain in other countries where it
has a presence, such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
Transport economist Anthony
Chin of the National University of Singapore said there could be
concerns that taxi bookings may become too market driven and
benefit those who are willing to pay.
"(The move is) perhaps to
ensure a sense of fairness. (In Singapore), taxis are seen as a
'filler' between public and private transport, and if this 'filler'
is not being made available to those who really need it, then it
may create some kind of socio-political problem," noted Professor
Chin.
He added that more analysis is required to find out if the GrabTaxi
app was indeed influencing the behaviour of taxi drivers to pick up
only customers who dangle rewards.
Besides GrabTaxi, third-party apps such as MoobiTaxi and EasyTaxi
have been introduced in Singapore recently, which allow customers
to make bookings for taxis from multiple companies.
GrabTaxi, which was launched in mid-October, is the only one which
has a reward function - which taxi drivers say is not often
used.
Cabby Armstrong Ho, 45, who has been using GrabTaxi for around
three months, said he typically receives between $3 and $5 in
rewards from passengers. But only three out of 10 customers make
use of the function.
Another driver, Mr Jason Low, 47, is still happy to see more of
such apps as some have been paying drivers to take bookings from
them during a promotional period. A driver can get S$5 to S$8 for
each booking he accepts from them.
"I have seen my takings go up by 30 per cent, and I spend less time
driving around looking for customers," he said.
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