Ride-hailing companies include temporary fee to help drivers defray costs
FOLLOWING moves made by fellow ride-hailing operators Gojek and Tada, Grab has introduced a temporary "drivers' fee" under a raft of measures to cushion drivers from rising operating costs. Another ride-hailing company, Ryde Technologies, will implement an increase in its base fare on Apr 14.
In a statement on Friday (Mar 25), Grab said there will now be a temporary fee of S$0.50 per ride, which began on Apr 1, until May 31 for all its transportation services, except its standard taxi service.
The fee hike will not be subject to prevailing commission rates and will "fully go to our driver-partners", said Grab.
Eligible drivers can also receive a one-time additional fuel discount on top of the existing 29 per cent CaltexGo discount, which translates to a one-time fuel discount of up to 51 per cent.
Additionally, eligible drivers will get a 5 per cent commission rebate for their first 199 completed trips between Mar 1 and May 31.
Grab said it has partnered with bicycle and e-bike retailers such as Mobot to offer its food-delivery riders up to 40 per cent in savings and interest-free instalment plans if they wish to switch to non-petrol powered vehicles.
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Food-delivery riders on the Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire tiers will also be eligible for a 20 per cent discount on fuel at Caltex.
Grab's head of transport Alvin Wee said the company's priority is to ensure that its drivers "earn a sustainable income on our platform".
"We have heard from them about how rising fuel prices have impacted their earnings, and have been exploring different ways to support them. We hope the driver fee, together with the ongoing commission and fuel rebate programmes, will help to defray their operating costs," he said.
Ryde is increasing its base fare by S$0.50 across all services, except RydeTAXI, until May 31. Ryde said the increase would not be a separate component in Ryde's fares, but an adjustment of the base fare.
It is also increasing its fee for ride cancellation and waiting time to S$5.30, up from S$4.30.
"We also consider cancellations and waiting times as we recognise our driver-partners also incur costs in the instances when they make their way to a pick-up point and the ride gets cancelled, or they spend time waiting," the company said.
Last weekend, Gojek had said it would, from Mar 31, raise its trip start fares by S$0.50 for all GoCar trips and S$0.80 on GoCar Premium and GoCar XL services.
A flat fee of S$0.50 will be applied to all Gojek trips less than 10 km long; trips 10 km and above will be subject to an S$0.80 flat fee.
A day later, Tada announced that it, too, will add a S$0.50 flat fee to trips S$18 and below and an S$0.80 flat fee to trips S$18.10 and above from Apr 4 to May 31. The fee hike will then be reviewed.
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