Smartphone apps shake up Southeast Asia's notorious taxi market

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:


Smartphone apps shake up Southeast Asia's notorious taxi market

Uber and local rivals such as GrabTaxi challenge much-criticised industry

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 14 October, 2014, 4:30am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 14 October, 2014, 4:30am

Agence France-Presse in Singapore



Apps allow users to hail taxis or private cars. Photo: AFP

Southeast Asia's notorious taxi market is undergoing a shake-up as Uber and homegrown mobile booking applications gain popularity in a region that has long endured inefficient cartels and price-gouging drivers.

San Francisco-based Uber, which allows customers to hail taxis or private vehicles via smartphones and pay with a credit card, is expanding rapidly in the region while fending off legal and regulatory challenges in various markets across the world.

Founded in 2009 and backed by Google Ventures, the investment arm of the tech giant, Uber now operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam after first entering Southeast Asia in Singapore last year.

The firm, whose valuation was placed at US$18.2 billion after an investment drive in June, employs smartphone and satellite technology to match supply and demand.

A list of the world's 10 worst cities to hail a taxi compiled by industry website tourism-review.com in March included Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Phnom Penh and Bangkok.

Uber executives say they welcome competition and are more than ready to go head to head with the likes of Malaysia-based GrabTaxi, Indonesia's Blue Bird, and Easy Taxi, a regional player backed by German start-up incubator Rocket Internet.

"As long as people are giving people options, that's a good thing," Michael Brown, Uber's Southeast Asia general manager, said.

"What makes Uber bristle is when special interests try to protect monopolies and keep new entrants and new competitors out."

Despite threats to have it banned in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, Uber continues to operate there.

It has also run into opposition in Seoul, where officials believe it should follow South Korean laws regulating taxi or rental car companies.

Authorities in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta also say its car hailing service makes use of private vehicles that do not comply with strict regulations that traditional taxi operators come under. Uber has vehemently denied the accusations. In Malaysia, authorities say they began a crackdown on private cars using Uber on October 1, fining drivers up to 10,000 ringgit (HK$23,737).

GrabTaxi, which first launched in Malaysia in 2012 and has since expanded to Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, is aiming for further growth.

Its app mainly matches customers with registered taxis. A recently launched function called GrabCar allows for booking of private vehicles just like Uber, but so far it has not been flagged by authorities.

"We're the leading taxi booking app in Southeast Asia including Singapore, and we are well-positioned to extend our lead," Lim Kell Jay, GrabTaxi's general manager in Singapore, said.

Taxi drivers say they hope the intense rivalry between the apps will continue.

"With the apps like Uber, it's like a win-win. You [passengers] wait around less, and we drivers don't have to roam around hunting for passengers, saving time and petrol," said a Singaporean taxi driver who only wanted to be known as Tan.





Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.