Lifestyle

8 Facts About RydeX, The Latest Private-Hire Car Service Coming To S’pore

2018-03-30 , 2:05 pm

If you’ve been keeping up with the news about the private-hire car service in Singapore, you’d know there’s a ray of hope for Singaporeans.

Because a hero has just appeared like our very own VR Man.

And his name is Ryde.

Ryde announced on 28 Mar that they’ll be rolling out their own private-hire car service in Singapore called the RydeX.

What exactly is RydeX and what do they want to achieve?

Here are 8 facts about this new service, RydeX, that Singaporeans are excited to know.

1. What exactly is Ryde?

For those of you who are wondering what Ryde is, they’re a local carpooling company that started up in Singapore back in 2014.

Oh sorry, they were a carpooling company.

For those who don’t know what carpooling is, just think GrabHitch and Commute. They match private drivers with passengers who are travelling in the same direction.

Today, Ryde is a carpooling company with operations in three different countries and planning to roll out RydeX, their version of private-hire car services.

So it’s no longer just a carpooling company.

2. Ryde has raised a substantial amount of money for this move

When Ryde announced their intentions to get into the private-hire car market, experts were wondering if they’ll be able to compete against Grab in terms of funding.

In the span of three and a half years, Ryde has taken its business overseas and operates in three different countries: Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

When they expanded to Hong Kong back in 2016, they managed to raise $2 million. And this time, Ryde CEO Terence Zou said they’ve raised quite a substantial amount as well, but didn’t disclose the number.

Just some figures for you to ponder on: in 2017, Uber lost about SGD$5.9 billion. That billions hor, not millions.

So yeah, this market definitely need some hardcore financial muscle.

3. Ryde has 55,000 drivers and provides 300,000 trips daily

What is required for a private-hire car service to succeed in Singapore other than money? The number of cars.

Would you still keep the app if you can’t get rides from the app all the time?

Ryde said that at the current moment, they have 55,000 drivers and provided over 300,000 trips daily for users.

And before you think these are carpooling statistics and doesn’t show their private-hire car service potential, read on.

4. Ryde Tied Up With ComfortDelgro in 2017

In May 2015, it was reported that you can book a ComfortDelgro taxi from the Ryde app.

This was part of a tie-up between both companies which will help Ryde expand its services with more cars on the road.

And for ComfortDelgro to be able to reach out to the then-100,000 Ryde users.

Who knows, you might be seeing a RydeFLASH function coming out soon.

I mean, RydeX. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5. Ryde has started calling for drivers to sign up

As the late entrant into the industry, Ryde is going all out in their fight against Grab.

They have started calling for drivers to sign up as private-hire drivers via the Ryde app. In addition, they said that the commission that Ryde will take from drivers per trip will be capped at 10% of the fare.

This is much lower than the usual 20% Uber and Grab take.

This, they say, will help to create more earnings for the drivers, and more savings for the users.

I don’t know about you but all I heard is discounts!

6. This isn’t the first time Ryde is going up against Grab

If you think this is the first time Ryde is competing against Grab, you’re wrong.

They’re long-time rivals, these two.

Grab has a GrabHitch service, which is essentially a carpooling service. But back then, Ryde was the first player.

In a way, you can say that before, Grab is challenging Ryde on their home ground. And today, it’s Ryde challenging Grab in their backyard.

As for us lowly riders? We’re just rooting for Ryde because…

7. Ryde has actually been preparing for this for months

You have to admit that this is convenient timing for Ryde to offer their own private hire car service.

But CEO Terence Zou said that they didn’t enter into this just because of the Uber-Grab merger.

It was a “natural extension” of their business and not in response to Uber leaving Singapore.

He said that they’ve always wanted to add private-hire car services to their offerings and that this was simply the best timing for them to enter.

He felt that the market needs more competition at this point in time.

Ryde promises to be a competitive alternate private-hire platform for Singaporeans to travel around with.

8. They want to provide drivers the means to make a decent living and riders a cheaper alternative

If you’ve not been very supportive of the idea, this might just change your mind.

The ultimate reason why they decided to set up RydeX is to give riders a chance for cheaper rides and the private-hire drivers the means to make a decent living.

Of course, they might just be saying it lah.

But then again, at least within the next few months, expect to see low fares continue for a little while more.

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com