On Monday, it was announced that Indonesian ride-hailing platform Go-Jek had just opened a pre-registration portal to attract drivers in Singapore. In a statement, the company explained that individuals who sign up will “have the opportunity to be among Go-Jek’s first driver-partners in Singapore”.
There’s already been buzz about the Grab competitor debuting on our shores — it’s just a matter of when. According to The Straits Times, the Jakarta-based start-up is believed to have set its launch date for late November.
Go-Jek also revealed that those who toss their names onto the list will get notifications from the firm with information on how to apply to join when the app comes to Singapore.
“There has been a huge amount of driver interest here in Singapore and we are pleased to take this important first step toward driver recruitment,” a spokesman said, adding that the portal is the only official avenue for drivers to indicate their pre-registration interest.
In light of this, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be reviewing regulations for the private transport sector, Channel NewsAsia reported. This inspection will be completed by mid-2019, after ensuring that drivers have the freedom to choose their employers, new operators have lesser entry barriers, and commuters have more transport options, LTA said.
Merely one day after the launch, thousands of drivers have already registered on the portal, a Go-Jek spokesperson told The New Paper. No exact numbers were revealed, but apparently “feedback has been positive” and “there is a great deal of anticipation ahead of [Go-Jek’s] arrival”, the company said.
Just this month, the Singapore Private Hire Car Drivers & Riders Community on Facebook created a poll to ask drivers whether they would remain with Grab or make the jump to Go-Jek. Out of 1,300 votes, 86 percent declared they would move over.
Looks like the ride-hailing war is back on. But it remains to be seen whether Go-Jek can scoop up a lasting share of the market or end up retreating like Uber.
