SINGAPORE, April 20 — Weeks after acquiring its main rival’s South-east Asian operations, ride-hailing firm Grab is muscling into the school transport sector here with a new shuttle service aimed at both students and school staff.
The service targets students across the board, from primary schools to those in tertiary institutions. Prices start from S$130 (RM385) monthly for one-way trips, and users must commit to at least two months of rides. They can opt to take cars and electric taxis, on top of regular 13- and 23-seater GrabShuttle buses, Grab said in a statement on Friday (April 20).
Traditional school bus operators currently charge between S$90 to S$160 a month per child, depending on factors such as the distance involved and the vehicle’s capacity.
Touting its new service as faster and more “personalised and flexible”, Grab took a swipe at the traditional bus operators by pointing to their early pick-up times, long journeys, and the practice of making parents pay for bus services even during school holidays.
Students who use Grab’s service, for instance, will only have three to four drop-off points if they opt for a taxi. They will also have the flexibility to customise their drop-off points on their return trip (up to 5km from the original destination), say, to go for tuition classes, without additional charges, the company said.
“Since we launched GrabShuttle over a year ago, we have had parents and teachers requesting for routes to and from schools, as well as a more personalised service that better meet their needs,” said Alvin Wee, head of GrabShuttle Singapore.
The new service is available via the company’s Grabshuttle app, with the first pick-ups expected in May. Grab said that it will crowdsource similar pick-up and drop-off points and start a route once there is enough demand.
To allay concerns about safety, Grab said drivers for the new service will go through “rounds of screening and be trained to handle younger children”. Parents will also be able to track routes in real-time through the GrabShuttle app and directly contact the driver if necessary.
Grab’s latest foray is not the first attempt by new entrants here to disrupt the school transport sector.
In October 2016, a couple here launched a new service called Schoolber that recruits parents already making the school runs to pick up other children living nearby — for a fee.
Asked if Grab’s entrance into the sector would disrupt their nascent business, Charlemagne Teh, one of Schoolber’s co-founders, said: “Grab is a big player. We are a small player. We are open to collaboration with anybody or any platform.”
Singapore’s competition watchdog is currently reviewing Grab’s acquisition of Uber’s operations in South-east Asia, and has ordered a set of enhanced interim measures to take immediate effect to keep the ride-hailing market “open and contestable”. — TODAY
