Bus Services Beeline & GrabShuttle Which Operates On-Demand Will Close By End Of 2019

Talk about transport, then you’ll probably be thinking about-

NOT ANOTHER PMD NEWS AGAIN?

Relax, relax. This one’s more on the traditional transport, but it’s solving a similar problem with PMDs: last-mile transport. Basically, it’s accessibility to the more ulu places that are not close to transportation hubs.

Specifically, we’re now talking about on-demand bus services.

Beeline And GrabShuttle Shutting Down

Yep. It’s another blow after the PMD ban for the advancement of last-mile transport in S’pore.

Both Beeline and Grab had put up notices that they are shutting down their on-demand shuttle bus services on their websites.

Both are discontinuing their services from 1 Jan 2020.

I can only say that it’s a pity since it only seems like we’re moving backwards for transportation these few months despite the technology already existing.

Beeline Will Remain Open-Source

Beeline, which was developed in 2015 by then-Infocomm Development Authority and the Land Transport Authority, said that this will “allow us to optimise our efforts and resources on developing products and services that can deliver benefits and convenience to more citizens.”

In 2017, they were reported to have 130 routes and 19,000 monthly bookings.

They have also made their code open-sourced, “so that others might take advantage of our codebase, building on it to create applications and platforms to help improve first-and-last mile connectivity in Singapore’s transport system.”

So to the ambitious people who want to tackle the last-mile connectivity problem; that’s a good place to start working.

GrabShuttle Also Ending Service

GrabShuttle, which is powered by Beeline, operates on fixed-routes and timings and is also ending. This also includes GrabShuttle Plus, which is powered by Canadian tech start-up RideCo, that has dynamic bookings more similar to the normal Grab service.

According to their FAQ, this will “enable us to redirect our efforts into further improving our core transport services to better serve our customers.”

GrabCoach, which serves up to 40 people, will continue.

Grab did not give the ridership numbers for their shuttle bus services.

But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why Beeline and Grab are both shutting those services down: they don’t make money lah.

They’re not honestbee, you know.

But Local Start-Up SWAT Says There’s Hope

On-demand bus services like Kutsuplus and Chariot also aren’t too successful overseas, so it’s not just Singapore.

But it doesn’t mean that all had given up hope.

Local start-up SWAT, which is part of Goldbell engineering and transport group and one of two firms participating in LTA’s on-demand bus trial, is one such firm that has existing projects in Singapore, Australia, and Vietnam. They are opening operations in Indonesia, Philippines, Japan and China.

“With increasing congestion due to rapid urbanisation and infrastructure limitations, we believe that on-demand ride-pooling in buses is the way of the future,” said SWAT chief executive and co-founder Jarrold Ong.

It seems like, he notes, successful implementations are those that provide first-and-last mile connections to the train, metro and trunk bus lines.

SWAT’s primary focus is on working with governments to provide their services as part of public transport, and with companies for employee transport arrangements. They are also exploring areas like self-driving vehicles.

I’m going on a limb and say that someone will make it work somehow.