If you’ve always wanted to carpool – either as a rider or driver – in Singapore, GrabTaxi came up with a new feature that makes it easier, sociable, and fuel-efficient for all parties. You can now hitch a ride, or start sharing with your vehicle using GrabHitch, a new carpooling feature found on the main GrabTaxi app.
Carpooling with GrabHitch is simple for both parties. Passengers will need to make an advanced booking on the app – anywhere from 15 minutes to seven days before your trip – with both pick-up and destination addresses keyed in. Once that is done, the riders simply wait for an available driver going the same route at the right to choose your booking. Passengers can also choose other people in the area to hitch a ride together. Both driver and selected passengers will be notified if there’s a successful carpool match.
Grabbing a successful carpool booking is simple for passengers.
This new feature emphasizes on safety for everybody involved – GrabHitch users are all required to use Facebook to log in, allowing everyone to have an idea about who they will travel with. Both riders and drivers can also see if they have any mutual friends, if they are interested in making friends. Users can also indicate if they only want to travel with the same gender.
Other safety features from GrabTaxi are also enabled for GrabHitch, such as its 24-hour hotline and Share My Ride, which provides live-tracking of the trip. Drivers who have signed up for are also required to produce documentation of their ability to drive, such as their driving license, motor vehicle registration and insurance. In the meantime, GrabTaxi will also conduct verification checks to check if the drivers have had any major traffic offences. Finally, both riders and driver will be rated against a feedback system managed by GrabTaxi.
Passengers interested in carpooling using GrabHitch only need to download the latest GrabTaxi app. The cost of the ride will be shown upfront before they confirm a GrabHitch booking. For carpooling drivers, they will need to register under a beta program, which will run from 11 to 30 November 2015 in Singapore, and get the latest GrabTaxi app as well. All fares are paid via credit card in the GrabTaxi app. Fares collected from ride-sharing passengers are designed to conform with Singapore’s carpooling regulations – each driver can only do two carpooled rides a day and the earnings will only cover variable costs incurred, such as petrol and car depreciation.
GrabTaxi has their bases covered, with a specially designed FAQ on their GrabHitch landing page to address the concerns of drivers when it comes to the technicalities and insurance matters. If you want to learn more about the new feature, go here.
To download GrabTaxi, you can get the iOS version here, and the Android-compatible version here.
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