Throwback Taxi: Grab brings back taxi-sharing in Singapore

It is through the GrabShare service.

Ride-hailing company Grab is bringing back taxi-sharing service via carpooling scheme GrabShare.

Taxi-sharing services will be rolled out progressively on 16 May. Passengers who book GrabShare will either be assigned a fixed fare taxi or car for sharing – whichever is best matched to the passenger’s destination.

To recall, taxi-sharing was first introduced in Singapore in 1997 via the “Share-a-cab” initiative, which allowed commuters to request for shared taxis through information panels located at selected taxi stands. The introduction of taxi-sharing is backed by the increasing popularity of commercial and social carpool services such as GrabShare and GrabHitch.

GrabTaxi Head Melvin Vu said since launching GrabShare in December, the company has been studying trip data and refining its matching algorithm to better match passengers with similar routes to the nearest available driver.

"We are confident that the combined strengths of taxis and cars will result in greater transport efficiency while creating more income opportunities for driver-partners," Vu said.