Grab today (1 October) announced the expansion of its GrabShuttle Plus service trial to include rides to and from Serangoon, Hougang, Changi Airport Logistics Parks, Changi Business Park, and industrial areas.
The new trial routes will be made available on Tuesday, 2 October.
The expansion will provide inter-town connectivity between the Punggol/Sengkang and Bedok/Tampines/Pasir Ris areas and East areas of Singapore.
Other trial route expansions made earlier this year include the Cheng San-Seletar neighbourhood and between Kranji Camp III and Sungei Gedong Camp.
Some of the new features include allowing riders to set their pick-up and drop-off locations in the GrabShuttle Plus app and make a booking immediately, or schedule up to three days in advance.
GrabShuttle Plus has no fixed route and is assigned to users based on the proximity of buses to the rider’s pick-up and drop-off locations.
Like a GrabShare for shuttle buses.
Prices start from $2.80 and capped at $9 and are not subjected to dynamic pricing; each rider can also bring up to five additional passengers at an extra cost of $1 each.
GrabShuttle Plus is different from the regular GrabShuttle service that operates on a fixed route, price, and timing model.
A Grab spokesman told The Straits Times that riders can expect to take six-seater vehicles when they book a GrabShuttle Plus and that drivers have to “obtain the relevant license and go through an additional training session to join GrabShuttle Plus”.
Grab also assured that the expansion of GrabShuttle Plus will not “cannibalise” its other services like GrabCar or JustGrab and added that it “does not see itself competing with the Land Transport Authority’s on-demand bus service“.
The statement shared that since the launch of GrabShuttle trials last November, ridership has grown by more than eight times.
Close to 70% of current GrabShuttle Plus bookings are for routes longer than 4km, pointing to a demand for longer on-demand bus journeys.
Grab claims that the service expansion will help to meet this demand of riders and help to shorten travelling time by at least 30% compared to other modes of public transportation.
The average GrabShuttle Plus rider walks 100m or less on each trip.
Andrew Chan, Head of Transport, Grab Singapore said, “We are confident that this expansion will address these needs and better utilize existing vehicles, while contributing to Singapore’s car-lite vision.”
New users will enjoy the first four GrabShuttle Plus rides for free when they enter the promo code ‘SHUTTLEPLUS’.
Featured Image Credit: Grab Facebook
