SINGAPORE (Mar 14): Uber is refusing to comment on whether or not it has reached a deal with Grab to sell most of its South-east Asia business to its competitor.
See: Uber said to have reached in-principle agreement to sell Southeast Asia business to Grab
When Warren Tseng, general manager for Singapore and Malaysia, Uber, was asked to comment on the reports of the possible Uber-Grab deal, he could only echo what CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had said.
“It’s just speculation and rumours, I don’t have more to say to that beside what our CEO says last week around our plans to continue investing in Southeast Asia. Those are my marching orders, as we launch more of these products, these are our continued investment in the market,” was his reply.
Tseng was similarly mum about the in-depth assessment on the ComfortDelGro and Uber deal.
See: ComfortDelGro-Uber joint venture enters Phase 2 of regulatory review
“It’s an on-going process, obviously a deal of this scale will get more scrutiny, we’re working very closely to deliver the message that this collaboration is obviously good for riders and driver-partners, whether you’re a private driver vocational license holder or a taxi drive vocational driver license holder, it is good for Singapore ultimately, that’s the spirit of this collaboration,” he says.
Tseng was asked the questions at the launch of Uber's new carpooling option for users called Uber Commute on Wednesday morning.
Through the service, users can now schedule rides from an hour to a week in advance and is targeting at users commuting to and from work and home. The fares are expected to be up to 51% cheaper than those under uberX.
Currently, riders and drivers are only allowed to book rides between 5 am to 10 pm on weekdays. This differentiates Uber Commute from Grab’s GrabHitch carpooling service, which allows non-commercial drivers and riders to schedule and accept rides at any time of the day and week.
The Uber Commute service is fully built into the Uber rider app, and is not limited to commercial Uber drivers, unlike the existing uberPOOL service.
Drivers will get to keep 100% of the fare, which follows Singapore’s framework for carpooling where drivers can only be reimbursed for fuel cost, maintenance, insurance and road tax. Tolls such as ERP are not included in the fare, although both drivers and riders are encouraged to discuss this to avoid disputes.
“We wanted to make sure that this product captures the spirit of the road traffic act, all of the ways the riders and drivers use the product captures the act,” says Tseng.
“If you dig into the language into the regulation, it is designed for peak than off-peak, hence the peak commute times. That’s when Singapore needs the extra supply the most, and we want to be compliant and reflect the spirit of the regulation,” he adds.
