If you haven’t heard of Go-Jek, that is probably because it isn’t really a widely known service here in Malaysia. In Singapore, where its main rivals, Grab enjoy the lions share of the market, Go-Jek had a small launch and a limited test phase. Now the company is ready to expand and to conquer the Singapore market.
Ever since Uber has exited from South East Asia, the main ride-hailing business has always been Grab except for Indonesia, home of Go-Jek, who has been their rivals in the largest nation in South East Asia. Taking that competition to the rest of the continent, Go-Jek is now making a strategic move by first covering Singapore.
A spokesperson for Go-Jek told TechCrunch, “The response from the driver community since we opened pre-registration has been overwhelming with tens of thousands of drivers signing up via the pre-registration portal. While we can’t disclose figure at this moment, we are confident we can meet consumer expectations during the beta service period.”
In the Lion City, ride-hailing is a booming business. When I was there for a conference and had to take either a cab or ride-hailing vehicle, it can be seen that the sheer amount of people calling for a Grab vehicle was incredible. It took me an hour to wait in line for a cab versus me waiting 20 minutes for a Grab Car. Even the local premium taxi services were offering premium rides for a fixed fee as well attracting many customers.
