SINGAPORE, March 26 — As competition heats up among third-party taxi booking apps, the companies behind them are dangling lucrative carrots to get more drivers.

GrabTaxi, for instance, said it is giving out incentives — ranging from S$18 to S$388 (RM47 to 1,011) per week, depending on the number of bookings completed — to drivers till Sunday. It is also launching a referral scheme today, which will give taxi drivers a bonus for getting other drivers to sign up with the app.

Another app, Easy Taxi, said that, for this month, it is paying cabbies S$6.50 (RM17) for every completed booking, inclusive of booking fee reimbursement and incentives. Last week, the company waived commission fees for drivers and booking fees for passengers.

GrabTaxi said such incentives are possible as drivers pay a “small levy” to use the app, while investors provide financial backing. The service was launched in Singapore in October by Malaysian company MyTeksi.

When asked if such incentives were in line with regulations, a Land Transport Authority (LTA) spokesperson said: “Any incentive provided by third-party taxi applications is a commercial arrangement between the taxi application provider and the drivers who use the app.”

GrabTaxi had in January removed a feature allowing users to tip drivers on top of meter fees, after the LTA said drivers cannot collect fares in excess of those set by their companies.

A taxi driver, who only wanted to be known as Mr Ng, told TODAY that the incentives pay well and he gets an average of six bookings a day through GrabTaxi. The app gives him more jobs as his cab operator — which he declined to disclose — does not get many bookings, Mr Ng claimed.

Third-party taxi booking apps — which link up commuters and taxis without going through each operator’s call centre and consolidate bookings across different operators — have been gaining popularity since they were launched in Singapore late last year.

Easy Taxi, for example, said it has 6,000 drivers and 50,000 regular users in its database.

Smaller cab operators welcomed the apps, saying the greater take-up rate of these apps among commuters could allow them to eventually close their call centres.

Chairman of Prime Group Neo Nam Heng said the company is encouraging its drivers to use Easy Taxi. “For example, we’re trying to convince them to use the app by giving discount on our fuel,” he said.

Premier Taxi Managing Director Lim Chong Boo echoed his thoughts. “It’s just more money for the drivers. I don’t have a choice — my call centre is already paid for, whether I get one job, 10 jobs or a million jobs, I still pay (for the centre). More importantly, has my taxi driver benefited, have I served the commuter? If I have, then I’m happy.”

ComfortDelGro, Singapore’s largest taxi company with 16,628 vehicles here, reiterated that the company will consider third-party booking apps if they bring in more bookings for its drivers.

“We have a very advanced taxi booking system that is used extensively by our drivers. If there are external booking apps, which will bring in more booking jobs for our drivers, we will definitely consider them,” said ComfortDelGro’s spokeswoman Tammy Tan.

SMRT and Trans-Cab, the two remaining cab operators here, did not respond to queries. — TODAY