New e-hailing app diffride debuts in Klang Valley

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — A new e-hailing app-diffride made its debut in the public transportation sector today.

Touting itself as a company offering competitive ride fares for both passengers and it's drivers, diffride said its drivers need only pay it RM5 daily, while keeping the rest of their earnings.

“We are the first e-hailing service provider in Malaysia to offer this flat fee of RM5 to our driver partners for daily access to connect them to their potential passengers. By not requiring them to pay us a percentage of their fares, this means that we can not only offer our riders a more competitive fare rate for their journey, but also allow our drivers to take home a larger amount of their earnings,” diffride Chief Executive Hannah Yong said.

Yong said the fee would also give it's drivers daily access to diffride’s services, besides connecting them to passengers, such as insurance coverage for both themselves and their passengers.

However, Yong said the fee may be subject to a review after the year's end.

“Right now we are getting the commitment to have the RM5 till year end. That's for drivers not for passengers,” Yong said, adding that for passengers meanwhile, a fee of RM5 will be applied for every five kilometres, and other charges a according to distance and time.

She was responding to a question at the press conference, as to whether diffride would be revising its RM5 base rate, once the Sales and Service Tax (SST) rolls out in September.

“In addition, riders will be able to book ahead for journeys that are more than 60 minutes in duration or use their account to book a ride for their friend. For maximum convenience, payment options are flexible, with both cash and cashless options available,” she added.

Models for diffride during the launch of the new e-hailing service app in Kuala Lumpur August 21, 2018. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri

Bearing safety of its passengers in mind, Yong said diffride will also ensure that their drivers have no traffic summons or criminal records when registering with the company

“As the first e-hailing service provider to fully comply to the Ministry of Transport’s regulations for such services, drivers registering with diffride will also have to undergo screening by the ministry’s Land Public Transport Agency (Spad).

“Their cars, which they must either own or be legally authorised to drive, must also be less than eight years old and be of a model that ranks three stars or above on the New Car Assessment Programme for South-East Asian Countries (Asean NCAP), or its equivalent, Yong added.

She said diffride will also be the first e-hailing service provider to soon offer telematics technology to their partners, allowing car owners and drivers to track the location of their vehicles, should it get stolen.

Details of the technology package, however, would be finalised later.

Yong said diffride is also working with telecommunications provider Digi, to offer its drivers a special postpaid mobile plan from as low as RM58 with minimum 10GB data and unlimited calls, along with monthly rebates.

The e-hailing service provider is also partnering with phone manufacturer Huawei Technologies Malaysia to offer their drivers special rates for the brand's smartphones.

diffride is hoping to have 6,000 riders by year's end with an expected ridership of 500,000.