As we anxiously wait for new ride-hailing apps to touch down on Singapore, with the latest being an Indian company expressing interest (read yesterday’s New of the Day), it seems like Go-Jek has been working behind the scene to make the ride-hailing war even more even.
Go-Jek is allegedly in talks with ComfortDelGro for a tie-up.
Lest you’ve forgotten, Go-Jek is one of the largest competitors in the post-Uber era: with backings from Temasek Holdings, Google and Tencent, they have the financial powers to compete with Grab in this money-losing industry.
But so far, there has been no news about their launch.
Ever since last year June, Go-Jek has set up an office here in Singapore, but its primary function back then was on data science – i.e. using data collected to build AI. Back then, it had 20 employees here.
ComfortDelGro is, well, a company left in limbo after its tie-up with Uber last December. A short-lived system called “UberFLASH” aimed to combine the fleet of Uber and ComfortDelGro to provide rides for Uber riders was born. In return, ComfortDelGro bought 51% of Uber’s car rental company, Lion City Rentals.
Since Uber’s announcement to leave Singapore, Lion City Rentals customers are left in limbo: while they could drive for Grab now, no one knows what’s going to happen to them next.
ComfortDelGro taxi drivers have been told to delete the Uber app since UberFLASH is no longer being used.
In other words, ComfortDelGro is…well, sort of left in limbo. At least in terms of their ride-hailing investment.
However, it’s unknown whether the agreements ComfortDelGro has made with Uber are still valid, as they have yet to be approved by the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS).
But things might change soon
An unnamed source told TechCrunch that Go-Jek and ComfortDelGro are in talks for a possible partnership. Both Go-Jek and ComfortDelGro refused to comment on the allegations.
Well, it reminds me of days when Grab and Uber refused to comment on the allegations of the merger #seewherewearenow
The partnership could prove to be a turning point: with Go-Jek’s system and ComfortDelGro’s fleet, Go-Jek (or maybe it’ll be called Comfort Jek, ha, ha, ha) can enter the market fast without having to spend months to find drivers.
All they need to do now is to focus on acquiring riders (all of a sudden, I see promo codes floating in my screen).
RydeX is expected to be operational at the end of this month, and Jugnoo is expected to be up by 1 May 2018. In other words, by next week, the industry would be slightly different.
And when Comfort-Jek comes, we’ll have so many options that prices might remain the same, or even lower.
No wonder people often say that a crisis would bring solutions that’ll over-solve the initial problems.
Now you know what Singaporeans are talking about today; do check back tomorrow for another piece of news of the day!
Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:
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