Grab, the leading ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia, today announced the regional launch of GrabShare, the company’s first on-demand commercial carpooling service, with its introduction in the Philippines and Malaysia. With GrabShare, passenger demand for rides can be met more efficiently with the existing car supply, helping toreduce the number of cars on the road. In exchange for sharing their ride, passengers enjoy cheaper fares and a maximum of only one additional detour; drivers earn more by completing two bookings in one trip.

“After the success of our first run in Singapore, we’ve decided to bring GrabShare to Manila for the benefit of the Filipino commuters. With it, we can deliver more affordable rides to our passengers and provide higher incomes for our drivers,” said Brian Cu, Grab Philippines’ Country Head.

First launched in Singapore in December 2016, GrabShare has successfully attracted new riders to the Grab platform. In two months, Grab completed two million GrabShare rides — a total distance of about 20 million kilometres. Along with the rapid passenger adoption of GrabShare, Grab has seen a 15 percent improvement in its passenger matching rate. With more passenger bookings completed, drivers’ monthly incomes have also increased 10 percent on average. The dramatic success of GrabShare in Singapore has inspired Grab’s confidence in offering its commercial carpooling service to more countries.

“Carpooling is instrumental to achieving our most important goals: to make transportation accessible for our passengers, and to improve the lives of our drivers. With GrabShare, Grab makes the everyday commute of Filipinos even more cost-efficient and hassle-free: Grab passengers won’t have to waste their time because GrabShare keeps detours to a minimum, while drivers are given the opportunity to earn more by completing two bookings in one trip,” said Cu.

GrabShare combines a maximum of two separate passenger bookings with similar routes into a single ride. Passengers experience only one additional stop before reaching their respective destinations. Drivers can also maximize their potential earnings by completing two jobs in the time it previously took to complete one; this enables them to finish more jobs per hour, boost their incomes and reduce their fuel consumption.

Conceptualized, designed and engineered across Grab’s three research and development centers in Singapore, Seattle and Beijing, GrabShare’s matching algorithm ensures that passengers get to their destinations in the shortest possible time. The algorithm determines a match by factoring in the closest available drivers, travel time, overlap of trip routes, detour distance and current traffic conditions before intuitively sequencing pick-ups and drop-offs.

“Grab is continually refining our carpooling algorithm to ensure we tailor our GrabShare passenger matchings for a hyperlocal carpooling service which mirrors the optimal driver and passenger carpooling habits of a city. This is critical for Grab as each of our cities have unique passenger travel patterns and the app learns to customize how bookings are efficiently matched. In a nutshell, the more people use GrabShare, the more robust and efficient the algorithm ultimately becomes,” said Dominic Widdows, Software Engineer for GrabShare.

GrabShare as a feeder service

Filipinos have long been accustomed to sharing a vehicle with their fellow commuters. From jeepneys to the UV Express shuttles, getting around the city has, in majority, involved some form of carpooling.

GrabShare aims to disassociate carpooling from the notion of squeezing a passenger into an already-crowded shuttle, or compromising one’s safety. Passengers can now think of carpooling and commuting with the ease and comfort GrabCar is known for, for a fraction of the cost.

“Grab has always supported multi-modal transportation. We would like to think that we have successfully positioned ourselves as a feeder service to the buses and train stations. Our data indicates that a majority of our passengers use Grab to travel to and from these points during the rush hour. We’re optimistic that the convenience and affordability of GrabShare will cement this role further,” said Cu.

Why GrabShare

Benefits of GrabShare to passengers include:

1. Cheaper fares

GrabShare fares are up to 30 percent cheaper than GrabCar (Sedan) fares. Fares are fixed and displayed upfront.

2. Ride with a friend (per booking)

GrabShare users can share their trip with up to one other person as long as they have the same pick-up and drop-off point. Fares are fixed so there’s no need for an additional fee to share the ride with a friend.

3. Maximum two-stop guarantee

Passengers can expect no more than one additional drop-off during their ride. This ensures everyone reaches their locations fast for less. Drivers will wait up to five minutes for each passenger during pick-ups.

4. Instant booking

Passengers can book a GrabShare ride on-demand from anywhere, at any time and enjoy socializing with fellow commuters on the ride.

5. Ride with peace of mind

Safety is Grab’s utmost priority. All Grab rides are insured while drivers have gone through regular customer service trainings and a thorough application process.

Benefits of GrabShare to drivers include:

1. Higher earnings

Drivers can double the bookings they serve on a single GrabShare trip, with minimal effort. This translates to higher combined fares and an increase in their earnings.

2. Cost-efficient trips

Every GrabShare trip helps drivers maximize the utility of their vehicle, fuel and time, which means fewer resources are needed to yield the same amount of productivity.

Start Sharing the Ride

Grab passengers can start sharing their rides by following three simple steps:

Step 1: Select the GrabShare icon and input pick-up and drop-off points before selecting “Book”.	Step 2: Wait for your GrabShare driver at the pick-up location. Drivers will wait up to 5 minutes.	Step 3: Share a ride and enjoy the savings! You will be informed when your driver is picking up an additional rider.

Download the Grab app today from the AppStore and Google Playstore to experience GrabShare. For more information, please visit www.grab.com/ph/share/.