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Serious Singapore’s Uber and Grab Drivers now need Vocational License (8 Feb 2017 )

shiokalingam

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Loyal
Car Rental & Leasing Companies will be hardest Hit.

Drivers Surrender Cars Soon ???

Taxi Companies Huat Ahh ??? :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


Phantom Drivers' Days are Numbered :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:



Singapore’s Uber and Grab drivers now need vocational license



February 8, 2017



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Drivers from ride hire services such as Uber and Grab will be required to get vocational licences under amendments to the Road Traffic Act (RTA). The amendments were made in Parliament on Tuesday (7 Feb).

Operators can be fined up to $10,000 for not ensuring that their drivers are licensed, and suspended for up to one month if their drivers flout the rules three or more times in a a year.

By the middle of this year, drivers will also need to display a decal identifying their vehicle as a private-hire vehicle, and have their vehicle registered with the Land Transport Authority (LTA).


The measures were first announced last April, during the Ministry of Transport’s (MOT) Committee of Supply debate. Second Minister for Transport Ng Chee Meng said on 12 April 2016 that private-hire car drivers will need to apply for a Private Hire Car Vocational Licence (PDVL), which requires at least two years of driving experience.

Applicants who are Singapore citizens must be registered owners of a chauffeured-services company, or employed by a limousine company.

The PDVL course will last about 10 hours, and drivers will be subject to a demerit point system.

“Our regulations are not overly onerous. Service operators like Uber and Grab will agree that these are necessary for the interest of commuters,” said Ng in Parliament.
 

jw5

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So previously they didn't need a vocational license? :rolleyes: Pathetic! :biggrin:
 

shittypore

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You pay em millions yet they need such a long time to solve tis problem, anyone wit common sense cud hve solve tis problem when Grab or Uber came into the mkt.
 

johnny333

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
This is why it is so difficult to make money in Spore. The PAP gov't will eventually come into the picture with all "their" rules & regulation.

In the end you end up working for the PAP gov't instead of yourself.
 

maxxi

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"Applicants who are Singapore citizens must be registered owners of a chauffeured-services company, or employed by a limousine company."

FT no need?
 

ahpong

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This is why it is so difficult to make money in Spore. The PAP gov't will eventually come into the picture with all "their" rules & regulation.

In the end you end up working for the PAP gov't instead of yourself.

Yes. Next will be Airbnb, another source of income for the gov.
 

shiokalingam

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Loyal
"Applicants who are Singapore citizens must be registered owners of a chauffeured-services company, or employed by a limousine company."

FT no need?




very good questuion dey.


LTA should banned these 2 apps from access so many much private information on passengers

and their app users :
 

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Bonut

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some even didn't have the requisite insurance for passengers then - at least now a more level playing field for krafty :wink:

Nonsense. Krafty has already crossed the Rubicon. He is now a professional punter in Melbourne.
 

frenchbriefs

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Asset
retarded as shit.u mean people with driving license dunno how to drive?u need a special breed of talent to be a taxi driver?Peter lim was a taxi driver during his university days before he became a palm oil tycoon and a billionaire.all these rules and regulations does nothing but make everyone's lives more difficult.

the issue was never about UBER or grab driver's safety or track record in the first place,they are just as good as any driver out on the streets.this is nothing but a wayang illusion exercise to placate and address the warm and salty tears rolling down comfort taxi driver's eyes and down their cheeks,those delicious unfathomable tears of sadness.

taxi drivers are such lazy cunts,take a walk nowadays in the morning and u will see countless of taxis parked in carparks and hidden lanes sleeping rather than try to make a living.
 
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Narong Wongwan

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Asset
retarded as shit.u mean people with driving license dunno how to drive?u need a special breed of talent to be a taxi driver?Peter lim was a taxi driver during his university days before he became a palm oil tycoon and a billionaire.all these rules and regulations does nothing but make everyone's lives more difficult.

the issue was never about UBER or grab driver's safety or track record in the first place,they are just as good as any driver out on the streets.this is nothing but a wayang illusion exercise to placate and address the warm and salty tears rolling down comfort taxi driver's eyes and down their cheeks,those delicious unfathomable tears of sadness.

taxi drivers are such lazy cunts,take a walk nowadays in the morning and u will see countless of taxis parked in carparks and hidden lanes sleeping rather than try to make a living.

Well said.
This is just a wayang to win back dumb taxi Drivers votes.
Vocational license only 10 hours course?
Taxi Drivers got to go for longer course and pass exams I think. Taxi drivers still getting short end of the stick.
 

bodycells

Alfrescian
Loyal
Well said.
This is just a wayang to win back dumb taxi Drivers votes.
Vocational license only 10 hours course?
Taxi Drivers got to go for longer course and pass exams I think. Taxi drivers still getting short end of the stick.

grab and uber are not stupid useless taxi drivers.

compare to those jealous good for nothing taxi losers is really non comparable.
 

Narong Wongwan

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
grab and uber are not stupid useless taxi drivers.

compare to those jealous good for nothing taxi losers is really non comparable.

Yesterday evening during the heavy downfall I was in town.
Witnessed many available taxis zipping past without bothering to go to the taxi stands which had queues.
There were many people waiting for a ride as it was going home time.
The taxi Drivers must be having an orgasm seeing so many stranded passengers. But majority were actually waiting for their uber/grab rides which came like Clockwork to pick up their fares.
Hahaha loser cabbies will continue to be losers
 

shiokalingam

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Uber rebuts reports that close to 1,000 of its cars idling in carparks



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“We are learning the workings of a car rental company and at the same time, how to grow an asset business at the speed of an app service,” says Mr Tseng.




NINE out of 10 Uber cars in Singapore are being used at any one time, contrary to reports which said a significant part of Uber Singapore's fleet is idling in carparks. In an interview with The Business Times yesterday, Uber Singapore general manager Warren Tseng said the cars that have been "deemed idling in carpark lots" are either new cars being inspected, having the In-Vehicle Unit (IU) installed or cars that have just been returned and are being cleaned.


Mr Tseng was rebutting news reports that said close to 1,000 brand new cars, many with the Uber-owned Lion City Rental (LCR) number plates, had been sitting in a number of multi-storey carparks in Singapore.


"There are lots of cars around the city that could be easily mistaken as Uber cars. It's also impossible that our cars are idling islandwide, when we have only three pick-up points for our drivers," Mr Tseng said.

He also said that LCR "exists in response to market demand".

"There are tens of thousands of drivers in Singapore today, who recognise the opportunity to earn money flexibly. We wanted to encourage drivers to try our platform by making our rental flexible - something that the taxi companies are currently adopting," he said.

"With such flexibility, you see cars coming in and out daily. Sometimes they are parked for servicing; other times for cleaning after the driver is done using the vehicle. As an outsider, if you look at the lots, it is easy to assume they are not be hired," the head of the ride-hailing service provider said. But he declined to disclose the total number of vehicles in its fleet "for strategic reasons".


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Mr Tseng, who moved to Singapore in 2014 after launching Uber in Thailand and Indonesia, said he wanted "to experiment owning assets" as the company grows organically here - moving away from its original "asset-light" model. "With assets, we have a very different business model here.

We are learning the workings of a car rental company and at the same time, how to grow an asset business at the speed of an app service," he said, debunking the rumour that Uber is selling off what were deemed as its idle vehicles.

Instead, the company continues to bid for Certificates of Entitlement (COE) to build its assets and the move was confirmed by car dealers and parallel importers.

Owner of second-hand car dealership Carnex Auto Ong Yuan Sheng said Uber is "still bidding" for COEs and several parallel importers, like Mr Steven Tan from ST Carz, said the private-hire player is buying cars from them.

Sia Siew Kien, Associate Professor of Information Technology & Operations Management from the Nanyang Business School at NTU, said startup funders and investors tend to be demanding and the funds raised by these startups "are typically tied to some growth or expansion plans".

"To establish its market presence, Uber not only needs to fight the incumbents but also other equally strong startup competitors such as Grab. Uber's intensely competitive behaviour is thus understandable.

As a platform player, scalability is important. You can only be number one in the market. There is no place for the smaller players," he said. Read also: Grab vs Uber: Breaking down the economics behind their price war and sustainability "In a way, Singapore is unique as cars are generally more expensive than other countries. Consequently, the pool of private drivers willing to go with Uber and Grab is smaller.

This is one way Uber and Grab can expand their driver pool to ensure ready ride availability for customers," Prof Sia added. Uber, a global powerhouse valued at close to US$68 billion (S$95.9 billion), is focusing on organic growth as it expands into South-east Asian markets, its senior vice-president of policy and strategy David Plouffe revealed in an interview during a visit to Taipei in November last year.

And while some industry watchers felt that Uber is creating pressure on COE prices last April and May when it reportedly secured about 1,700 car COEs within just two months of bidding, Mr Tseng said "it is unfair and misdirected to assume so". "If you look at LTA's (Land Transport Authority) data, COE prices have actually dropped from April 2015, which was a month after LCR started, to the current rates," he said.

Mr Tseng said the company's ultimate strategy: To optimise the use of every single car. "Consider how many cars you see on the road with just one person in it. We think it's a waste as it leaves up to four other seats unused.

With ridesharing and carpooling, seat utilisation per car is increased and we are getting 120 per cent out of these cars, compared to what the individual car owner is getting," he said, adding that one in three Uber rides in Singapore is an uberPOOL ride. Co-founder of influencer marketing and media company Gushcloud Althea Lim said Uber sees itself as a car-asset company in South-east Asia and by growing its assets, it will be able to control pricing and push rivals out of the market. Rival Grab has also upped its battle against Uber in the region.


The Singapore-based company, valued at more than US$3 billion (S$4.2 billion), announced its plan to put US$700 million (S$989.2 million) to work in Indonesia, the largest of the six markets in serves in South-east Asia, over the next four years.

Its spokesman said: "Grab wants to build a multi-modal shared transportation platform made up of the widest land fleet network of taxis, private-hire cars, and personal cars. We truly believe that a multi-modal approach is the only way to reach our goal of ensuring every Grab ride arrives in less than three minutes." -
 

shiokalingam

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Loyal
Grab vs Uber: Breaking down the economics behind their price war and sustainability


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The fight between Grab and Uber has been a long and sustained one, buttressed by the fact that both companies are financially capable of dragging out one.

In November 2016, we covered the fight between the 2 companies with a detailed comparison of their features. In the end, the victory was determined by a mini landslide, with Grab taking the lead.


The interesting thought in the article was that even though Grab had significantly higher prices than Uber, the overall poll showed a win for Grab.


And although Uber's central management has been undergoing some major upheavals with #deleteUber, the wave has not been felt close to home. It's clear that Uber is here to stay for the foreseeable future, as they ramp up promotions and services in direct competition against Grab.

But how much of this war is actually sustainable?

We spoke to 2 NTU Masters graduates of Economics to help us break down the economics of the price war.




Warring It Out

The war strategy utilised by Grab and Uber is one of predatory pricing. This means that companies set the costs of a service (i.e. rides) at a price lower than the marginal cost to the seller. These refer to the costs incurred by the seller when adding one more unit of service.


Through this, the companies are able to keep the costs of rides for passengers down, while upping the ante for low cost rides. All with the singular goal of eliminating the competition. Once that has been achieved, the victor gets ahold of the entire market demand, thereby exerting an almost-monopolistic control (save for taxi companies). So the golden question would be, who would be the last one standing?


The Uber Advantage Uber, owing to its presence worldwide has been successful in operating in loss-making markets. The losses incurred in these countries are supported by the gains they make in other markets where they have a stronger, more lucrative hold.

Secondly, event though Uber has constantly been reporting losses and a burning through of their war chest (especially in China against Didi), the company continues to raise money as if it is broke. In June 2016, Uber raised $3.5 billion from Saudi Arabia and the very next month, another $1.15 billion.

As such they have a massive war chest with which to compete, thus allowing them to cover any losses they might be making in countries where their market penetration rate is low.


Grab-bing The Win Grab on the other hand has a presence limited to the South-east Asian region. This restricts them with respect to their market penetration rate, and in turn, their total revenue. Logically speaking, Grab has inadvertently set itself up as the player more disadvantaged to fight a prolonged war. However, it's clear that this is not the case as public opinion of the Malaysian startup remains strong.

This is because the regional and local players often outperform foreign players as they understand their customers more closely. They are more sensitive to fluctuating market trends and smaller nuances and are in a better position to alter their business model according to market needs.

This places Grab at a place where they have better customer service optimisation than Uber.


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According to one of the graduates, now an economics analyst, the price war can likely sustain for a while.

The strategies that Grab and Uber involved dynamic pricing, meaning that ride costs are subject to fluctuations in demand and supply, i.e. a high demand translates to surcharges. Both Uber and Grab have since introduced 15 per cent fare reduction at different points, with Grab going one step further by removing the base fare of $8. Upon reflection, these reductions may seem attractive but are still somewhat offset by the dynamic pricing.


The only significant benefit that comes from the reduced prices are when you take rides outside of peak hours, which honestly speaking, how often do any of us do that? How Long Can They Continue? The war, while exciting as a commercialised marketing strategy for the companies to announce that they can provide better savings than the other, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to sustain a constant game of trying to one-up each other. It is typical that price wars will stagnate after a while, followed by a slew of flashy price-slashing campaign.


However, there'll still be a limit as to how far they can take their discounts, estimated to be at most a few dollars less. After all, drivers need to earn a profit to live, and Uber and Grab must not compete with official cabs like Comfort Delgro (although taxi companies have been innovating ways to stay relevant).


Otherwise, limited by these factors, the fares set by Uber and Grab can only go so low. For consumers, the price war can appear to be a messy thing as rates can fluctuate within minutes simply by refreshing (try testing your UberX).


It's always good to do a search and comparison of rates before making any booking, as the upfront pricing and dynamic pricing strategies have made it more difficult for passengers to estimate costs. In case you have yet to hear about it, there are already such Skyscanner style apps and sites in the making, with one that will pull up promo codes for you.


Whatever the case, it is certain the fight will last a while, so just buckle up and enjoy it while it lasts. A thank you shoutout to the 2 NTU Masters graduates for consulting with me on the article. -
 
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