Singapore, 19 October 2016 – Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing company, and Prime Taxi today announced a partnership that will enable all 1,000 Prime Taxi drivers to fulfil on-demand passenger bookings via the Grab platform. With this partnership, the third to be announced by Grab within two months, commuters can use the Grab app to access more than half of the nation’s taxi fleets.

While formal discussions were only initiated recently, the formalisation of the partnership comes after years of careful evaluation at Prime Taxi. Prime Taxi recognises the benefits of third-party app operators and its capability to enable drivers and passengers to enjoy the convenience of on-demand mobile ride hailing. Prime Taxis selected Grab for its local transportation expertise and experience working with taxi drivers, scalable technology platform offering drivers immediate access to a growing passenger base, and data and analytics capabilities to maximise bookings and earnings for drivers.

Neo Chee Yong, Deputy General Manager of Prime Taxi, said, “Prime Taxi is always striving to be more innovative to bring benefits to the taxi industry – from being the first to introduce hybrid taxis in Singapore to embracing third-party taxi booking apps. This is why we are particularly keen to work with local champions like Grab who understand Singapore taxi drivers and are leaders in the ride-hailing industry. This partnership will extend Grab’s technology to Prime Taxi’s drivers, enhancing the efficiency of the fleet and allowing drivers to make better use of their time on the road so we can better serve the public.”

Using data analytics, Grab has refined its fleet routing technology to minimize ride cancellations. Today, 25 percent of ride bookings are less likely to be cancelled by drivers and passengers, creating a better travel experience for commuters and improved efficiency for drivers. Now with three taxi operators on board, Grab has access to the most diverse pool of drivers than any other provider in Singapore, and the most extensive dataset to better study commuters’ travel patterns and behaviours. This puts Grab in an even stronger position to enhance its technologies to better meet commuters travel needs and strengthen its expertise in localised mapping.

Commenting on the latest partnership, Melvin Vu, Head of GrabTaxi Singapore, said, “Taxi drivers play a crucial role in meeting transportations needs in Singapore and we remain committed to empowering them to better serve passengers. Our latest partnership with Prime Taxis makes Grab the most diversified transportation platform with access to a more varied and extensive dataset to study the island’s transportation patterns. Ultimately, our goal is to make the taxi industry even more competitive, better fulfil commuters’ on-demand point-to-point travel needs, and drive towards Singapore’s car-lite vision.”

As part of the onboarding process, new Prime drivers will undergo training to help familiarise them with the Grab app and learn about Grab’s safety guidelines and expected code of conduct. To further its ongoing efforts of reducing operating costs for drivers, Grab will provide drivers with subsidised smartphones that are compatible with the Grab app.

This partnership follows Grab’s existing partnerships with two other local taxi operators, Trans-Cab and Premier Taxis. With Prime Taxi on board, Grab continues to grow its largest land fleet network of over 40,000 drivers spanning across all its services including GrabTaxi, GrabCar and GrabHitch.