TACKLING THE SUPPLY CRUNCH
When GrabCab’s licence was approved, transport analysts said that the firm could attract drivers from its rivals and disrupt the industry.
However, Mr Sim said that this is not Grab’s intention.
“If the driver is already driving with another taxi company, and he comes to us … we are not going to turn him away, but at the end of the day, it’s back to our acquisition plan – our focus is on new TDVL holders, and TDVL holders that have gone dormant,” he said.
The reason? To boost the supply of ride-hail and taxi services.
“We are very confident that with our ecosystem, both passenger-facing and back-end, we can leverage that to make GrabCab drivers’ lives easier,” he said.
“Whether or not that will help us to do better than other competitors, I don’t know. We focus on the national supply problem.”
Mr Sim added that the demand for ride and street hail will continue to grow over the next few years, which is why Grab is stepping into the taxi industry.
“When you think about taxis, you think of a sunset industry … so it seems counterintuitive for Grab to launch a taxi business,” he said.
However, he added that the taxi business “still makes a lot of sense in this day and age”.
For example, there are certain periods of high demand such as after concerts that Grab still struggles to provide a reliable supply of rides.
“We believe that with a taxi licence, that gives us the ability to actually provide more consistent, reliable supply for these targeted areas of locations,” he said.
Measures to level the playing field between taxi operators and ride-hail operators were announced earlier this year. For instance, taxi operators will have greater flexibility in managing their fleets, with new regulations allowing them to convert used cars that are less than five years old into taxis.
Grab also has no plans to shift its taxi offerings purely to GrabCab, or prioritise its taxis over other operators. Currently, taxi rides from other taxi operators can also be booked through the Grab app.
“There are no plans to phase it out, it’s still an important platform for our other taxi partners,” said Mr Sim.
“Our aim here is to grow the pie, not to split the pie, or take some away from (other operators).”
