In ride-hailing, having more options makes commuting harder

The Straits Times, In ride-hailing, having more options makes commuting harder

By Assistant Professor Samuel Chng, LKYCIC

At peak hour, many commuters now scroll between three or four ride-hailing apps before confirming a booking. Taxis remain an option, whether hailed on the street or through an app. Drivers, too, often toggle between multiple apps in search of the next job.

On paper, this looks like healthy competition. In practice, commuters must contend with uncertainty over which platform will actually secure a ride in good time, as well as the hassle of comparing prices and wait times across apps. Fragmentation imposes a “cognitive tax” on commuters, forcing them to spend time and mental effort simply to secure a ride. The question then is not simply which app is cheapest, but whether Singapore’s point-to-point mobility system is delivering what commuters value most: reliability, predictability and confidence.

With certificate of entitlement (COE) prices persisting at elevated levels and total ownership costs high, owning a private vehicle remains out of reach for many households. At the same time, Singapore’s public transport system remains affordable and extensive, yet peak hour crowding can be a deterrent.

Ride-hailing services and taxis therefore serve as important complements to buses and the LRT and MRT. They provide first- and last-mile connections, late-night travel options, and flexibility for families, older adults and shift workers, along with alternatives for those wanting a more private mode of transport.

Car-sharing services add another layer to this mobility spectrum, offering households occasional access to a vehicle without the long-term financial commitments of ownership. Together, public transport, taxis, ride-hailing and car-sharing reflect a broader shift from owning cars to accessing mobility when needed.

In this context, point-to-point services are not a discretionary convenience for the rich. They are part of everyday mobility infrastructure in a system deliberately designed to rely less on private cars and more on shared options.

Why choice still matters
Singapore’s transport system is strong by global standards, but it is not without friction.

From a behavioural perspective, choice has real value. People derive a sense of control and fairness when they can select among alternatives rather than being confined to a single provider. In mobility systems, this perceived autonomy shapes satisfaction as much as speed or price. People feel more confident in the system when they are not locked into one ride-hailing provider.

Different commuters prioritise different attributes. Some are price-sensitive. Others care about waiting time, comfort or familiarity. Some prefer taxis for their regulated metered fares and the option to street-hail. Others favour private-hire vehicles booked through apps, valuing upfront fare estimates and digital convenience.

Platforms also differentiate themselves beyond transport. Grab, for instance, has evolved into a super app offering payments, food delivery and financial services. For many users, mobility is embedded within a broader digital ecosystem that offers a suite of everyday services.

A degree of competition between taxi operators and ride-hailing platforms therefore guards against complacency and encourages innovation. Preserving meaningful consumer choice remains important.

What frustrates commuters

Yet commuters’ frustrations reveal another side of the story. Fare surges, driver cancellations, unpredictable wait times and the need to compare across multiple apps do not just affect cost. They shape how the system feels.

Urban psychology suggests that people are especially sensitive to uncertainty and perceived fairness. A system that is slightly slower but predictable can feel more satisfactory than one that is fast yet erratic. In point-to-point transport, many riders are not chasing the cheapest ride. They are looking for reliability and transparency.

When a commuter sees multiple vehicles nearby on a map but experiences repeated cancellations, or encounters sharply different fares for similar journeys, trust in the system can diminish.

The reality of multi-platform drivers
Many drivers, whether operating taxis or private-hire vehicles, do not rely on a single booking channel. Private-hire drivers commonly run several apps at once. For drivers, “multi-homing” is a rational survival strategy to reduce idle time.

At the system level, however, the driver pool is finite. When a driver engages in multi-apping and runs three apps simultaneously, they appear as “supply” on all three. When they accept a job on one, they effectively vanish from the others. This creates “phantom supply”, contributing to cancellations and longer effective wait times.

The bottom line? Moderate competition improves outcomes. Excessive fragmentation without coordination can reduce efficiency and erode commuter confidence. There are signs that competition is no longer primarily driving down prices, but may instead be driving up commuter anxiety.

A changing ownership landscape
Recent Budget 2026 changes to the preferential additional registration fee (PARF) rebate sharpen the broader mobility context in which point-to-point services operate. The PARF rebate, which vehicle owners receive upon early deregistration, will be reduced by 45 percentage points and the cap lowered from $60,000 to $30,000 for new registrations. The move reflects the Government’s assessment that as electric vehicles become more prevalent, strong early scrappage incentives are less necessary.

These changes interact with COE dynamics and the overall economics of car ownership. Singapore’s transport model deliberately prices private vehicle ownership at a premium to manage congestion and land use. In such a framework, affordable public transport forms the backbone of mobility, while taxis, ride-hailing and car-sharing provide flexibility at the margins.

When private car ownership remains structurally constrained, the performance and reliability of shared mobility services matter even more. Car ownership policy and point-to-point mobility policy are closely linked. Together, they shape how confident people feel about living without a private vehicle. And if more Singaporeans do not own cars, then they must be able to trust the alternatives.

Coherence and sustainability
This is also where the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) – which envisions a single interface for planning and paying across MRT, buses, taxis and ride-hailing – comes into play. Such a vision speaks directly to commuters’ desire for simplicity. Its appeal lies in reducing cognitive load and restoring coherence to the transport experience.

Yet large-scale adoption of MaaS has not materialised. There is no major app that integrates all commuting options into one interface for commuters. One reason is structural. Taxi operators and ride-hailing platforms compete for users and drivers, and there is limited incentive to integrate systems or share data. Super-app strategies further reinforce ecosystem boundaries.

Integration, therefore, is not only a technological question but also one of market design that may require public intervention, if Singapore thinks there are benefits to providing commuters with a comprehensive view of their transport options.

Encouragingly, there are early signs of movement in this direction. The forthcoming display of real-time MRT disruption delays on Google Maps is a modest but meaningful step towards giving commuters a more integrated view of the transport network.

Fragmented competition can also carry environmental implications. Incentive-driven behaviour may encourage private-hire drivers to remain online longer or circulate in high-demand areas while waiting for jobs, rather than being matched more efficiently through coordinated system-wide dispatch.

Taxi cruising patterns interact with app-based dispatch in complex ways. These dynamics can increase empty vehicle kilometres, contribute to congestion and sit uneasily with sustainability objectives.

Designing for confidence
At peak hour tomorrow, many commuters will again scroll between multiple apps before confirming a ride. The technology will work. The vehicles will arrive. The system will function.

The challenge is not to decide which app is best, or whether taxis or private-hire vehicles should dominate. It is to ensure that the system as a whole delivers what commuters quietly seek each day: a predictable journey, a fair price and the confidence that the next ride will arrive without uncertainty.

In a carefully planned city like Singapore, mobility succeeds not when options multiply, but when trust in the system holds steady.

• Samuel Chng is a research assistant professor and heads the Urban Psychology Lab at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, Singapore University of Technology and Design.