SINGAPORE – GrabTaxi is changing its name. Singapore-based taxi-booking app operator GrabTaxi is rebranding itself as Grab while also placing all of its services under one roof.
Launched in 2012 and currently active in six countries in the region, Grab has steadily grown to become the largest taxi app business in Southeast Asia. The company has over 200,000 drivers and has been downloaded more than 11 million times.
“We’ve grown over the years — and we’re now much more than a taxi app,” said group CEO and Grab co-founder Anthony Tan in a statement. “This new brand is an important evolution that represents our goal to outserve our customers. We are not only providing passengers with a transport service, we are saving them time and ensuring they have a safe ride.”
Over the past couple of years, Grab has expanded its offerings to include private cars (GrabCar), motorbike taxis (GrabBike), delivery (GrabExpress) and most recently, carpooling with GrabHitch. In addition, the company was still known as MyTeksi in Malaysia, so that confusion will be removed too.
The company also officially announced a service for corporate customers, which had been in beta, and its cashless payment service, which had also been in trial format. Cashless payments will initially be supported in Singapore, with Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia added by February and Thailand and Vietnam within the first half of 2016.
Co-founder Tan Hooi Ling unveiled the revamped app at a news conference on Thursday. New features include GrabWork, which enables users to separate business rides from private ones for tracking and expense claims purposes. A new function called “Flash” is designed to help users find the nearest drivers more quickly. Grab will roll out these functions gradually from the end of January.
Free on Google Play and the Apple App Store for Android and iOS users, Grab has been aggressively expanding in the region in the face of US-based juggernaut Uber. Ms. Tan noted that, “the updated Grab app is about improving the core experience.” She added that the revised app will be more user-friendly and provide even faster access to rides.
