Grab, the leading ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia has officially announced the regional launch of their newest service called GrabShare. This is the company’s first on-demand commercial carpool service that’s begun operation in the Philippines and Malaysia.

Grabshare is touted to not only meet the demands for rides while at the same time reducing the number of cars operating on the road. Then there’s also cheaper fare rates and lessened amounts of detours per trip meeting both the needs of riders and drivers as well.

“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.

GrabShare was first introduced in Singapore in December 2016 and has completed as much as two million GrabShare rides. Not only did it speed things up for Grab app users it has also improved passenger matching rate by 15 percent. GrabShare’s success also trickles down to drivers; it turns out that since the service was introduced in Singapore, drive income have increased by 10 percent on average. All these victories have pushed for introducing the service to other SEA 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.

With the Grabshare app, two separate passengers can book the same car provided they follow a similar route. Passengers are assured that they will only experience one additional stop before reaching their destination. This would also be helpful for drivers as they stand to earn double over the same time that they are completing one trip. They also save more gas as well.

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.

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.

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