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TADA: New ride-hailing app


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zero commission then how they make money?
 

TADA: New ride-hailing app, driven by blockchain, launches in Singapore
By Tang See Kit @SeeKitCNA
26 Jul 2018 12:32PM (Updated: 26 Jul 2018 01:08PM)
 
MVL’s ride-hailing app promises zero commission fee for drivers and other incentives, such as a cryptocurrency-based rewards programme.
 
tada-ui.jpg
The user interface of ride-hailing app TADA. (Images: TADA)
 
 
SINGAPORE: Revving up competition in the local market, another new player has joined the ride-hailing race with a blockchain-enabled mobile application that touts zero commission for drivers among its differentiating points.
 
Called TADA, which means "let's ride" in Korean, the on-demand point-to-point transportation service app was launched by Singapore-based company Mass Vehicle Ledger (MVL) on Thursday (Jul 26).
 
Founder and CEO Kay Woo, who is from South Korea, described Singapore as a “perfect” market despite intensifying competition in the ride-hailing scene, largely due to a population of fast technology adopters.
 
The firm has already recruited 2,000 licensed private-hire car drivers ahead of its roll-out.
 
MVL said it will not collect commission fees from drivers using its platform – a departure from other ride-hailing services, such as incumbent Grab, which charges a 20 per cent commission.
 
Drivers will also not be bounded by any exclusivity agreements, as well as acceptance and cancellation rates, Mr Woo said.
 
Similarly for riders, there will not be any cancellation penalties while fares will be kept competitive, he added.
 
“We don’t charge drivers any commission, so there’s room for lower prices. That’s how we share the benefits,” said Mr Woo.
 
There will be two forms of pricing: A fixed-fare rate for point-to-point rides and metered pricing starting from a base fare of S$2.30. For now, a 3.4 per cent transaction fee will be charged for credit card payments.
 
MVL will also factor in surge pricing, although it is still surveying riders and drivers to determine a reasonable price range.
 
“We want to create a community where drivers and riders are treated as equal members. We don’t want to see them arguing over cancellations for instance," said Mr Woo in an interview with Channel NewsAsia ahead of the launch.
 
"If you don’t do well, there will be no incentives but if you do, you get more. By doing so, we hope to create a positive reinforcing environment."
 
These incentives will come in the form of points, which can be converted into MVL’s cryptocurrency called MVL coins.
 
For riders, these rewards will be given when they provide additional data into the system, such as providing reviews for their trips.
 
For drivers, points can be earned just by turning on the MVL app as they drive around. Those who receive better reviews and drive safely will also get rewarded with more points.
 
These points can be used to redeem goods and services with MVL’s partners, said Mr Woo, though he remained tight-lipped about who they are, citing ongoing negotiations.
 
Users can also opt to cash out their MVL coins. Listed on a coin exchange in South Korea, one MVL token is equivalent to about USD$0.05 (S$0.06) at the moment, the founder added.
 
ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT CHOICE; OPEN TO WORKING WITH OTHER PLAYERS
 
MVL raised around S$22 million through its initial coin offering (ICO) earlier this year and has been using these funds to fuel its foray into Singapore.
 
Based out of an officeat Oxley Bizhub in Ubi Road, the two-month-old start-up now has 36 employees. With operating costs remaining "quite low" for now, Mr Woo said its ICO proceeds will be sufficient to keep operations running.
 
Claiming to be a non-profit model, it stressed that it will not engage in a cash war to capture market share – a strategy that was previously adopted by ride-hailing giants Grab and Uber in Singapore until the latter was taken over by its Southeast Asian rival in March.
 
Instead, Mr Woo said he wants to grow MVL in an organic way and has a bigger aim to shake up the mobility industry by creating an ecosystem where there is transparent sharing of all mobility-related data, such as traffic conditions.
 
Apart from ride-hailing, it plans to integrate other key players including used car services, insurers and even repair shops.
 
Its blockchain platform will track and gather data on all these vehicle activities and with the consent of its users, these data might be sold to researchers or related transport companies for revenue in years to come, Mr Woo said.
 
“TADA is just one example of a service that runs on top of our blockchain protocol," he said.
 
"The app will have a similar user experience for both drivers and riders, but underneath, it is supported by blockchain technology that tracks and saves all the driving data.”
 
“For instance, traffic information collected during a trip is very useful and valuable to car makers of autonomous driving research companies,” added Mr Woo, who stressed that privacy data, such as the driver’s name for that trip, will be “concealed and separated”.
 
He also said that blockchain’s decentralised, immutable and transparent nature will make it more secure than a central database.
 
"If you put all eggs in one basket, they just need to attack one basket but if you use blockchain, data is saved on distributed storage to protect the storage and ownership."
 
Given how it is up against incumbent Grab and a handful of new players such as Ryde, Mr Woo remains confident that MVL's zero commission fee can help it to attract at least 3,000 drivers next month and 10,000 by the end of the year. It is also in talks with one taxi company and other car rental firms to boost its fleet.
 
On whether it is confident of attracting riders, particularly given the niche user adoption of cryptocurrencies in Singapore, Mr Woo acknowledged that this would be a “harder challenge” and plans to work with other participants within the blockchain community.
 
A potential challenge could also come in the form of higher prices on its app during non-peak hours as it works to stabilise its pricing mechanism, he added.
 
"But we are not going to spend tons of money on promotions. That's not the way to compete with the giants who have much more resources; that's the fast way to kill yourself."
 
Mr Woo said: "We are here to offer an alternative choice to the Singapore community ... If there is a way to work with existing players, be it the giants or new players, we are open to that."
 
Mr Lee Seng Leong, 54, said he signed up with MVL after being attracted to its zero commission fee.
 
While the cryptocurrency reward system sounds like a plus point, it remains a "complicated" concept for him at the moment.
 
"(The zero commission) is the most important factor," he said. "If prices are about the same, we will earn more. Being a driver is all about the money and whichever app is better, I'll go for it."
 
 

 

 

 

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Supersonic
(edited)

As a driver for Grab, no cancellation charge for rider means I'm at a disadvantage.

The other day I reached pickup point, the rider simply texted me "sorry I had to leave early".

So he didn't bother to cancel, he just uppity and go.

I had to wait there for a fruitless 5 mins before I can cancel without affecting my cancellation rate.

 

Try making appointment with your friend and simply don't turn up and see what happens.

Edited by Kb27
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Supersonic

Just an app? But still need cars to run right?

 

Ya, but it tied up with taxi companies and car rental companies for its fleet.

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Supersonic

Ya, but it tied up with taxi companies and car rental companies for its fleet.

They must be tied with LCR liao, since they have so many leftover cars?!  :secret-laugh:

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Twincharged

As a driver for Grab, no cancellation charge for rider means I'm at a disadvantage.

The other day I reached pickup point, the rider simply texted me "sorry I had to leave early".

So he didn't bother to cancel, he just uppity and go.

I had to wait there for a fruitless 5 mins before I can cancel without affecting my cancellation rate.

 

Try making appointment with your friend and simply don't turn up and see what happens.

 

 

Bro can share your experience

 

recently i tried using GRAB. 

 

1. As a passenger, I found it quite inconvenient. There is no function to allow say to make arrangement to come in 10 minutes time. Once you book, driver say will be there in 2 minutes, you are done. I dont like to make the driver wait. 

 

2. Also, because it is live, and timing situation as explain in 1., what happened if I wait by the road side and activate GRAB and found no driver in the vicinity. Basically, screwed.

 

3. My second time, I tried GRAB, i accidentally pressed book and forgot about it. Then a lady driver came to the restaurant looking for the joker who booked her GRAB. She asked me, if I was so and so and of course I answered yes. I told her I am not ready yet and can I call her back later. She said OK. So later I called her on her mobile and she picked me up. She told me because I by pass GRAB, she does not need to give 25% commission to GRAB (I am not sure if it is true or not). In any case, whenever, I feel like having a "GRAB" I call her number and she comes to pick me up. WIn-win situation.

 

4. The reason that prompted me to use GRAB. Initially, I used to feel sorry for the regular taxi but a few really pissed me off. One driver, took me for a ride to airport, he made a big round claiming possible traffic jam. Then another add this and add that surcharge, I asked why more expensive than my usual ride to airport. He then claim he made a mistake in adding the unnecessary surcharges.

 

In any case, I really think 25% commission made by GRAB is really obscene. 

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As a driver for Grab, no cancellation charge for rider means I'm at a disadvantage.

The other day I reached pickup point, the rider simply texted me "sorry I had to leave early".

So he didn't bother to cancel, he just uppity and go.

I had to wait there for a fruitless 5 mins before I can cancel without affecting my cancellation rate.

 

Try making appointment with your friend and simply don't turn up and see what happens.

I met a new driver (only started driving for 1 month), he told me whenever rider didn't cancel the booking, he will key in 50cts to complete the trip. Can it be done that way?
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Supersonic

Bro can share your experience

 

recently i tried using GRAB. 

 

1. As a passenger, I found it quite inconvenient. There is no function to allow say to make arrangement to come in 10 minutes time. Once you book, driver say will be there in 2 minutes, you are done. I dont like to make the driver wait. 

 

2. Also, because it is live, and timing situation as explain in 1., what happened if I wait by the road side and activate GRAB and found no driver in the vicinity. Basically, screwed.

 

3. My second time, I tried GRAB, i accidentally pressed book and forgot about it. Then a lady driver came to the restaurant looking for the joker who booked her GRAB. She asked me, if I was so and so and of course I answered yes. I told her I am not ready yet and can I call her back later. She said OK. So later I called her on her mobile and she picked me up. She told me because I by pass GRAB, she does not need to give 25% commission to GRAB (I am not sure if it is true or not). In any case, whenever, I feel like having a "GRAB" I call her number and she comes to pick me up. WIn-win situation.

 

4. The reason that prompted me to use GRAB. Initially, I used to feel sorry for the regular taxi but a few really pissed me off. One driver, took me for a ride to airport, he made a big round claiming possible traffic jam. Then another add this and add that surcharge, I asked why more expensive than my usual ride to airport. He then claim he made a mistake in adding the unnecessary surcharges.

 

In any case, I really think 25% commission made by GRAB is really obscene. 

As a passenger, Grab indeed no good as compared to uber. Recently i request for Grab and one transcab taxi came, and the driver keeps changing lane recklessly and nearly hit onto another car while changing lane and swerved the taxi badly to avoid hitting the car!  [sweatdrop]  When i took uber last time, never encountered such driver.

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Supersonic

As a passenger, Grab indeed no good as compared to uber. Recently i request for Grab and one transcab taxi came, and the driver keeps changing lane recklessly and nearly hit onto another car while changing lane and swerved the taxi badly to avoid hitting the car!  [sweatdrop]  When i took uber last time, never encountered such driver.

 

Unlucky lor, kena Transcab.  [shakehead]

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As a passenger, Grab indeed no good as compared to uber. Recently i request for Grab and one transcab taxi came, and the driver keeps changing lane recklessly and nearly hit onto another car while changing lane and swerved the taxi badly to avoid hitting the car! [sweatdrop] When i took uber last time, never encountered such driver.

This is up to individual driver leh.. Nothing to do with grab or uber or taxi la..
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zero commission then how they make money?

 

 

For crypto, one way they can earn is via exchanges.

 

When you change from fiat to crypto or crypto to crypto on their exchange, they earn a small fee. Besides, if it's their own token / coin, they can control it, so you definitely need their token / coin to use their services.

 

In addition, there's no rule that they can't impose a commission down the road.

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Supersonic

I met a new driver (only started driving for 1 month), he told me whenever rider didn't cancel the booking, he will key in 50cts to complete the trip. Can it be done that way?

 

I'm not sure.

 

First of all, Grab system is quite "manual", unlike Uber, which relies a lot on server doing recalculation of fares. So imo it's harder to "cheat" Uber system than Grab.

 

I think at one time I tried to change the fare due to some reasons, but found that Grab will still take 20% based on the quoted "first" fare.

 

Example, the ride is $10. If the rider didn't turn up and you try to complete it on the spot without moving anywhere. You edit to change the $10 to $0.50, you can "complete" the ride. But Grab will still take $2 from you (20% of $10).

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When all thw search engines started everyone also thought they were crazy.

Why offer information for free?

 

Before that were emails provider.

They don't charge anything.

 

Actually we, the users are the products of these companies.

 

It's not a B2C biz, it's a C2B2B biz model. Getting all Consumer data to my biz so sell to other business.

 

Like Nielsen lah.

What they sell?

Sell Service only. They data they collect don't cost a thing. Then sell to suppliers and even sell back to retailers who provided the data.

 

They can create a real time traffic monitoring system and sell to Land transport authority.

 

Surge pricing model can also apply to road pricing, especially when SG is moving to GPS ERP.

 

Then data link back to private car drivers who downloaded the app to see the rate of ERP. Then more people use the app to check traffic conditions and ERP rates. Then more usage date to be collected.

 

Even cannot sell to Land transport.

They still can sell users data

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