As Grab jostles to edge Uber out in Singapore, the Asian company is arming itself with one thing Uber hasn't really got — traditional cabs. On Thursday, Grab announced that it will properly onboard 7,000 drivers from the Trans-cab company onto its platform, bumping up the number of cabbies familiar with its ride-booking app. Grab's app is already available for interested cab drivers, but a formal effort by the taxi company and Grab to get drivers on will likely provide a boost to the number of cabs that Grab can pair with passengers looking for a ride. Grab has pledged to provide subsidised smartphones to drivers as well, to entice more of them to get on and use the app. Grab has always come at the market from the opposite stance of Uber's. While this partnership is the first for Grab and a traditional taxi company, Grab has always come at the ride-hailing market from the opposite stance that Uber has taken. Grab started in 2012 as a taxi app to begin with, as MyTeksi in Malaysia. Later rebranded as GrabTaxi, the firm started expanding in the Southeast Asia region, before it launched the Uber-like GrabCar in 2014, including private drivers in the mix. Uber, on the other hand, has prioritised private cars from the get go. The seven-year-old company has, as a result, found itself on the receiving end of plenty of vitriol from governments around the world and taxi associations, many of which complain that Uber is taking business away from taxis. Today, both Uber and Grab have taxis and regular cars on their service. But a look at both apps in Singapore shows that taxis are the first "default" to book on Grab, while booking a cab on Uber is the last setting all the way to the right. Grab: Uber: Trans-cab is the smaller cab operator in Singapore with 7,000 cabs on the island, compared with ComfortDelGro's 17,000.
Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm, Grab, has announced plans to onboard around 7,000 traditional taxi drivers in Singapore as it continues to battle against Uber’s growth in the region. Grab has also pledged to provide subsidised smartphones to entice drivers to its platform. While the Grab app has always been available to traditional taxi drivers, the firm hopes the formal effort will make more of an impact.