Grab reveals the country’s first on-demand carpooling service
The concept of carpooling has been around for a while now. But Grab, the leading ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia, has introduced the company’s first on-demand commercial carpooling service. Launched regionally, Grabshare has now come to Malaysia as well as the Philippines and its set to change the way we commute.
With GrabShare, passenger demand for rides can be met more efficiently with the existing car supply which helps to play a role in reducing traffic congestion. In return, passengers enjoy cheaper rides with minimal detours, while drivers earn more by completing two bookings in one trip.
GrabShare pairs just two different passenger bookings with similar trip routes within a single trip. Hence, passengers will only experience a maximum of two stops before reaching their destinations.
For example
1. Passenger A selects GrabShare ride and is picked up by a GrabShare driver.
2. Passenger B selects GrabShare ride, and Passenger A and B are matched. The Grab app notifies both the driver and Passenger A and B of a successful match.
3. Driver makes a slight detour to pick up Passenger B. Both Passenger A and B can bring up to one more person to ride with them (only four passengers allowed in the car).
4. The order of pick-up and drop-off ensures that both Passenger A and B get to their destinations quickly.
Conceptualised, designed and engineered across Grab’s three research and development centres in Singapore, Seattle and Beijing, GrabShare’s matching algorithm ensures passengers get to their destinations in the shortest possible time.
The algorithm calculates and determines a match by factoring the closest available drivers, travel time, overlap of trip routes, detour distance and current traffic conditions before intuitively sequencing pick-ups and drop-offs.
For drivers, GrabShare focuses on maximising potential earnings by reducing the time and distance spent on a single GrabShare ride, enabling drivers to complete more jobs per hour to boost their incomes and reduce fuel consumption.
The benefits of GrabShare were immediately seen in Singapore. Launched in December 2016, the service has proven effective in attracting more new riders to the Grab platform. In two months, Grab completed two million GrabShare rides, for a total distance of about 20 million kilometres. Along with the rapid passenger adoption of GrabShare, Grab has seen an improvement in passenger matching rate by 15 per cent.
In Malaysia, the service is expected to help reduce road congestion. With GrabShare is offering a viable and cost sustaining solution to carpooling. With more users and commuters, this will not only make transportation more seamless and convenient but also cost effective as well.
