Grab suspends late night ride-hitching service to improve user experience and safety

Singapore-based ride-hailing company Grab will suspend late-night bookings of its carpooling service from October to improve user experience and safety, just a day after the firm was slapped with a S$6.4 million (US$4.7 million) fine by the country’s antitrust watchdog and weeks after Chinese firm Didi Chuxing suspended a similar service following two murder cases in China.

Grab, co-founded by chief executive Anthony Tan, will stop its carpooling service between 1am and 5am from October 1 onwards to “improve the experience and safety of its community of drivers and riders”.

Grab’s GrabHitch service is operated by private-car owners and is marketed as a more “social” service, where passengers can “expand [their] social network” and “make new friends”. With GrabHitch, the fare is split between several commuters who are all headed in the same direction.

Grab’s suspension of late-night services for its ride-hitching services come as ride-hailing companies around the world take a closer look at safety measures for its users. In China, Didi Chuxing came under scrutiny in August after two passengers were murdered while using its ride-hitching service within three months. One of the incidents involved an unregistered Didi driver.

A Grab spokeswoman said that the service was suspended as the company had received “negative anecdotal feedback from our driver-partners”, such as drunk and belligerent passengers, and said that the service was not halted due to any specific incident.