What is Cheaper - Car-sharing, Ride-sharing or Taxis

There has been a seismic shift in the way we travel in recent times. If you needed to get to your destination a little more quickly than what public transport can afford you, you’re literally spoiled for choice; not only do you have the establishment in the form of the fleet of taxicabs plying our roads, there are a whole suite of apps that can bag you a Private-Hire ride too. However, if you prefer to drive yourself instead, there are service providers that fulfil that need as well. Hard to imagine I know, but just a few years ago, the latter 2 simply didn’t exist.

Thing is though, these disruptors are (or in the case of a select few companies, were) tech firms. Lower overheads (no need to maintain a fleet of taxis on the road!) in general mean that, ignoring if these organisations are sustainable or not, they can have aggressive pricing models, designed to undercut the establishment. We’re here to find out how much each mode of transport will cost you on an average daily use case and see which really is the most cost-effective.

Let’s lay down some basic framework for the purposes of this article. Note that, and quite literally as well, your mileage will vary, which is a good segway to, some general commute data provided by the government. The average Singaporean travels 10km to and from work daily, spending a total of 16 minutes on each trip. It’s safe to assume that the bulk of our readers work in the CBD, so we’ll throw that in as a factor as well. The following estimates leave out the cost of ERP, as, again, that will vary depending on where you live and where you work.

Let’s start with the humble taxi. Some pretty straightforward and fuss-free maths here, as there are no active-pricing or minimum trip requirements to deal with. Flag down fares average $3.20, with most operators charging $0.22 per 400 metres for up to 10 kilometres. There’s a 25% surcharge for travel during peak hours, meaning that your total morning commute will set you back $10.90.

The 25% surcharge is applicable for the evening rush hour as well, but that’s not the only additional fee you need to fork out over and above the base fare; there’s a $3.00 charge for flagging a cab in the CBD too, bringing your total for your journey back home to $13.90, for a total daily travel expenditure of $24.80.

We do know that surge-pricing is a thing. But as it is unpredictable (algorithm-generated), we shall estimate the rides on the fare structure Grab has on their website. Grab charges a base fare of $2.50, with each extra kilometre costing the rider $0.50. This means that, using the guidelines we’ve laid out above, each trip in either direction would cost the rider $7.50, for a daily total of $15.

Expect the prices to vary greatly though, especially during periods of heavy rain, or when the MRT network malfunctions (again). There are insurance policies designed to keep the prices of your Grab rides in check though, and they charge a premium of $9.60 a day. The policy needs to be bought a day in advance and will allow riders to submit receipts for up to $50 worth of rides. Coverage is for a minimum of 2 days, and premiums will fluctuate depending on weather forecast.

Realistically speaking, shuttling yourself between your place-of-work and your residence probably isn’t the use case these companies had in mind when they designed their car-sharing policies; most charge by the hour, and have a minimal rental duration as well. Plus, you can only return the cars to the station you’ve picked them up from, which means you have to, on top of paying for rental for the duration that you have the car parked at your workplace, you need to pay for exorbitant parking in the city as well.

Only 2 companies, BlueSG and Smove , offer A-to-B rentals. BlueSG actually makes the most sense out of the bunch, as even though they too have a minimum rental duration, it’s only 15 minutes, compared to Smove’s 3 hours. Smove also happens to charge $50 for that duration, and as most commutes in Singapore are relatively short, is financially illogical.

As for BlueSG, the firm is asking for $0.50 per minute if you do not have a monthly subscription. It’s $0.33 per minute if you are a premium member, and that luxury will set you back $15 a month. In the scenario posted by the former, your daily commute to work should set you back around $8.00, and it is another $8.00 back home as well, for a total of $16.00. The latter will only cost you $5.28 either way, but factor in the cost of that membership, and your daily total should add up to $11.06.

The figures speak for themselves, though they do not tell the full story. Sure, car-sharing in the form of BlueSG works fine for day-to-day commuting, but you need to make sure you have a station near where you work or where you live, or at least be willing to use the bus or walk to the station, which may actually turn some off using said service. Plus, the inconvenience may actually defeat the purpose of using a car in the first place. Also, if you are going to use the car for long periods (more than 3 hours), other companies, TribeCar for instance, offer you a better deal.

If you cannot afford to waste time, be it behind the wheel or waiting at the side of the road trying to get a cab, then ride-sharing is perfect for you. You can make that nice cup of latte or perhaps catch up on some much-needed sleep, all whilst waiting for your ride to show up at your void deck.

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