George Yang, Author at Goody Feed

Let’s face it: when you need to call a private-hire car, what app do you power up immediately? It’s either Grab, Grab or Grab. Yes, there are many private-hire firms in the market now, but with Grab allegedly holding on to 80% of the market share, chances are you’re the 8 in 10 instead of the 2 in 10. Which is why people, drivers included, are anxiously waiting for the arrival of Go-Jek, hoping that the firm with a big war chest can create a strong competition and bring down the price. But it seems to stay in rehearsal forever: earlier last month, TechCrunch reported that the Indonesian ride-hailing firm might be coming to Singapore by October, but October passed and we’re still trying to grab it. Soon after, it’s reported that the firm is working with six rental firms and would allegedly enter the market in November. Then late last month, Go-Jek officially made a move, starting a portal for interested drivers to join them. Within hours, thousands have signed up. And Singaporeans held their breaths, because it’s already the middle of November and there hasn’t been any update. Would Go-Jek finally arrive? Or would Go-Jek Gos-Tan and decided that Singapore is too small a market, and decided to just operate in Sentosa instead? Are any of the rumours true, and is Pikachu finally going to turn blue? Well, there’s another update and this time, it’s straight from the horse’s mouth. Go-Jek Beta App is Coming Before Christmas So far, all the news we’ve been reading come from unnamed sources. I reckon they’re actually sauces to sell newspapers and clicks, but anyways. Lest you’re not aware, other than the ASEAN Summit that’s ongoing now, there’s another major event happening in Singapore: the Singapore FinTech Festival. FinTech, which stands for Financial Technology, is a new and big industry in developed countries. For example, cashless payment is one example of FinTech. Without FinTech, you would still be going to ATM to transfer funds to your online seller instead of merely tapping on “Checkout”. Go-Jek’s president Mr Andre Soelistyo is present in the festival, and yesterday, during a fireside chat (i.e. informal chat), he said that Go-Jek was coming “soon”. But reporters didn’t give up: they pressed him for a specific date, and he finally provided more details. He confirmed that the beta app would be launched in Singapore before Christmas. But here’s the thing: it’s a beta app. What is a beta app? You’re reading this on an app, and this app is a final version that you updated (or just downloaded recently). Prior to it being uploaded to the Google Play Store or iTunes, we uploaded a Beta version for testing—and this version isn’t downloadable by you. It’s for us to test the app and check for bugs. For our case, our beta testing stage is rather short since our functions are not as complicated as a rail-hailing app; but for some apps (and games), they’ll release the beta version for a large number of people to try, and to provide feedback and look for bugs. In other words, the beta app isn’t the final app; it’s kind of a “testing” app. Which is why Go-Jek said that they’re looking forward to feedback from users during the beta-testing service period to better satisfy customers. Lots of Behind-the-Scene Work It seems like Go-Jek isn’t going to just develop an app, dish out promo codes and wait for people to join them: they’re doing a lot of planning before their launch. As mentioned earlier, they’ve roped in six rental firms last month. Earlier this week, it’s announced that they have teamed up with DBS to offer payment services, and DBS customers can enjoy “a slew of exciting privileges” (actually we just want promo codes). And with them releasing a beta app instead of a “final-release” app, it goes to show that they’re here for a marathon and not a sprint. Drivers’ Incentive Handbook Shows Go-Jek Has a Pretty Good System Remember the portal that allowed interested Go-Jek drivers to sign up? Well, some potential drivers have received instructions on how to get on board, and the handbook has been uploaded online in scribd.com Other than the usual instructions on how to operate the app, it also includes its payment mode and incentive system which all drivers are looking forward to. Payment can be withdrawn immediately as long as the amount is $50. That’s a big advantage over other ride-hailing firms that take one to two weeks for the money to be transferred to their bank account. As for its incentive system, it works on a “points” system instead of the number of trips. Also, it provides a minimum hourly earnings as long as the driver remains online and meet a certain requirement. But hey, you’re a passenger and all you want to know is whether drivers can cherry-pick you. According to the handbook, They Can In Page 8 of the driver’s handbook, it indicates clearly that when a trip request comes in, the driver can see exactly where the passenger wants to go. They can then accept or reject. Well, it seems like we still miss Uber after all. Unless, of course, we complain like siao during the beta-testing period #justsaying

George Yang

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