Grab offered steep discounts to pull taxi drivers away from ComfortDelGro and towards their allegiance

The Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant, Grab, has reportedly made a move to poach drivers away from the Singaporean taxi company ComfortDelGro by offering steep discounts to drivers who rent their daily vehicle via one of Grab’s partner companies.

According to Channel News Asia, who broke the news, Grab was offering a daily rental discount of up-to S$50 (US$36) to drivers who rented from the four local companies in its network. The companies are Premier, Prime, SMRT and TransCab (and are all of the other Taxi companies in Singapore besides Comfort).

Furthermore, if Comfort drivers switch to private-hire cars rented from Grab they will receive a S$1,688 (US$1,255) monthly discount upon completing 20 trips per week.

In February, Comfort DelGro introduced a ‘Flexi-rental’ scheme that reduced the daily rental fee from about S$100 (US$74) to S$85-90 (US$63-66) depending on the vehicle. A proposed discount of S$50 (US$36) would be a 70 per cent discount from the S$85 (US$63) cost.

Also Read: Uber in talks with Singapore cab operator ComfortDelGro to form “strategic alliance”

The discounts are meant to last for six-months, according to the article.

Uber and Grab battle for drivers

The timing of these discounts seems to be a move to box-in Uber, who is reportedly in talks to tie-up with Comfort to integrate taxis into its ride-hailing service in Singapore.

Furthermore, Uber also has its own promotion as part of its private-hire rental subsidiary Lion City Rental (not a taxi service, LCR is more like a car rental company). For people with a valid Taxi Driver Vocational License, if they sign up for a contract, the average daily rental cost would range from $42-46 depending on the length of the contract.

An Uber spokesperson told Channel News Asia the LCR deal is not a response to Grab’s discounts.

Also Read: Apple new China head Isabel Ge Mahe is officially on board

The Uber deal began on August 28.
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