ComfortDelGro sees uptick in bookings

COMFORTDELGRO on Wednesday said it has witnessed an uptick in bookings made through its call centre and phone app in the first five months this year, surpassing numbers in the year-ago period. 

Bookings grew by nearly 9 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in May 2018 - representing the largest y-o-y jump since September 2014, the taxi giant said. 

It added that the turnaround in bookings come on the back of Uber Technology's exit from the region, and the firm's marketing promotions in recent months. 

Uber decided to pull out of the South-east Asian market in March this year, and the Uber app was switched off in Singapore on May 7. 

Meanwhile, marketing efforts by ComfortDelGro seem to be paying off. Promo codes which offered passengers S$3 off their flat fares when they book via the ComfortDelGro App during off peak hours were the most popular.

The S$8-discount promotion, useable on trips taken from the city between 1am and 5am, was equally well-received, ComfortDelgro said. In total, about 57,000 promo codes were redeemed between April to end May. 

Said ComfortDelGro Taxi CEO, Ang Wei Neng: "We have been rolling out very targeted booking promotions and this, we believe, has helped to boost the demand. At the same time, we are also giving our cabbies weekly incentives to reward them for actively taking booking jobs so that passengers can get their taxis even faster."

In May this year, ComfortDelGro Taxi - the taxi arm of Singapore-listed ComfortDelGro - announced that it would be ordering another 700 taxis. The company operates a fleet of 13,000 taxis in Singapore, representing a 60 per cent market share. 

Shares in ComfortDelGro were trading at S$2.47 apiece as at 10.08am on Wednesday, down 1.6 per cent, or four Singapore cents.