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Everything You Need To Know About The Possible Uber-Comfort Alliance in 60 Secs

2017-08-23 , 11:17 am

Are you an Uber fanatic?

Are you such a fan that you despise Grab to the utmost, and choose to walk 5 kilometres in the middle of the night rather than flag down a Grab Taxi?

Well, if you’re that passionate about Uber, I have some good news for you!

According to The The Straits Times, Taxi giant ComforDelGro has commenced talks over a possible collaboration with Uber.

Yeah, they sure will be whoa-ing the roads of Singapore alright.

While nothing has been set in stone yet, ComfortDelGro said that “it has signed a letter with Uber Technologies for “exclusive discussions” on a possible strategic alliance.”

This means that Comfort’s 15,500 strong fleet of taxis could be chartered through Uber’s app.

(Uber is projected to possess at least 15,000 cars – under fully-owned Lion City Rental)

Why the sudden move though?

If you think about it, you would be surprised that such a move didn’t happen earlier.

Grab has had this collaboration service for a long, long while. In fact, they reportedly started from taxis.

And their revenue and usage rate is only going to head one way – up.

Uber, on the other hand, possesses no such service and has to compete with Grab based on their private-hire cars alone.

A losing battle, if you ask me.

So it makes a lot of sense that Uber opted to collaborate with a Taxi service, and with Comfort’s strong reputation and numbers, it’s a real smart move on their part.

Although it’s surprising given the animosity between the two companies. ComfortDelgro had issued instructions recently to ask taxi drivers to bao dou (tell on) PHV who break LTA laws.

Comfort will benefit too; they said it themselves, a potential alliance will strengthen its position as a major transport service provider in Singapore.

But what about the long run?

According to research analyst Abhishek Nigam at stockbroking firm Nomura, “in the short term, it is positive for ComfortDelGro. Its taxi-drivers will see more bookings, and that, in turn, will mean better hired out rate. Its fleet has come down big time.”

“But in the long term, it gives more power to Uber, as more and more people will use Uber’s app rather than Comfort’s booking platforms,” he noted, adding that this will erode the taxi group’s profit margins, and “it might become merely a supplier of cars”.

It makes you wonder; will the truce last for long?

Competition

Grab, better watch out! Uber’s out for your head!

Meanwhile, let’s just wait for their competition to heat up so that we get even more transport options. No more waiting in excess of 5 minutes ever again!

And more promo codes. Never forget that.

So sit back, download both apps and enjoy. Or be like my colleague who only uses Uber despite the fact that most of the times, Grab is cheaper.

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Feature Image: wikia.com / Uber / ComfortDelgro

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com