Uber X Singapore Review – One Month of Ridesharing

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When I completed my one-month experiment with UberTaxi, I switched to UberX once the former lost its promotional 25% discount. My calculations showed that sans discount, Uber X would be cheaper than UberTaxi. I also love the idea of supporting small-time, tech-savvy  private chauffeurs instead of Singapore’s convoluted taxi system.

One of my pet peeves about the system is that the fee structure is needlessly complicated. I have no idea what kind of fees to expect anymore, and it feels like a massive step back for consumers. With fares varying so wildly, how is the current system different from the old pirate-taxi days that the government worked so hard to eliminate?

Oh, right. The pirate taxis have grown-up and listed themselves on the SGX. Captain Jack Sparrow would be proud.

Don't look at me, Captain. I can't make sense of the taxi fares either.
Don’t look at me, Captain. I can’t make sense of the taxi fares either.

Enter UberX – a private car service that is cheaper and better than a taxi.

What is UberX
UberX uses private car services  (like a scaled-down limousine service) with car makes that include Hyunda Sonata, Toyota Wish and Nissan Sunny. These are private operators, and there are no markings on the vehicles to indicate that it is an Uber car. Because they are private care rental services, they are not allowed to pick up flag-downs on the road; all bookings have to be done in-app.

The ability to track the location of your vehicle is incredibly useful. Innovation is clearly non-existent in Singaporean taxi companies.
The ability to track your vehicle is incredibly useful. Innovation is clearly non-existent in Singaporean taxi companies.

So if you see your favourite UberX driver whiz past as you desperately try to flag him down, don’t fret. He’s not trying to suan you.

Cost and Payment
The fee structure is comparable to taxis, and the time and distance travelled is calculated by the driver’s Uber-supplied iPhone, which runs a version of the app for drivers. Payment is done entirely by credit card via the app, so there is no need to carry around extra cash. This means that it is impossible for fares to run away, and there is no point in trying to rob the driver late at night because he probably does not have a lot of cash on hand.

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Unlike taxis, UberX does not have the ridiculous 10% surcharge for credit card payments, and if you use a card that provides online shopping rebates, you get that too!

UberX vs Taxis – Which is Cheaper?
As of 2014, here is how UberX and taxis prices compare , according to Uber and LTA

UberX
(Min Fare: $8.00, Cancellation Fee $6.00)

Off Peak
$3.50 (base fare) +$0.24 (per minute) + ($0.40 per kilometer)

Peak (Monday – Friday: 5pm-10am, Saturday/Sunday: All day)
$3.50 (base fare) +$0.30(per minute) + ($0.50 per kilometer)

UberTaxi
$3.00-3.90 (base fare) +$0.29 (per minute*) + ($0.55 per kilometer for journeys from 1km-10km* OR $0.62 per kilometer for journeys above 10km*)
* Except for SMRT Chrysler, Comfort/CityCab Mercedes Benz, Trans-Cab Mercedes Benz, Premier Mercedes Benz and other premium taxis.

More useful innovation: getting a fare estimate for UberX.
More useful innovation: getting a fare estimate for UberX.
Feeling rich? Want to pamper yourself? Here is what the same ride would cost with UberExec.
Feeling rich? Want to pamper yourself? Here is what the same ride would cost with UberExec.

Real-world price difference
Enough theoretical comparisons. I took UberX for a month so that we could look at real data.

The below results are based on my  commute from my office at Nanayng Polytechnic to my home at Kovan. All rides were taken from Monday to Friday around 5.30pm-6pm and the prices are nett, which includes surcharges and call-in booking fees for taxis.

UberTaxi (average cost based on 6 trips):
$15.28

UberX (average cost based on 6 trips)
$13.15

On average, UberX was $2.13 or nearly 14% cheaper than a taxi. It’s hard to believe that a new player in the local private transport scene can provide a higher quality riding experience for less money than a deeply entrenched company like Comfort or CityCab. Disruptive technology indeed.

Is it safe?
I am aware that Uber drivers in Chicago and India are alleged to have committed rape  and another Uber customer in San Francisco was allegedly bashed in the face with a hammer by an UberX driver.

But this is Singapore, and I felt perfectly safe during  my 14 rides with UberX. Then again, I am a pretty big guy and I’m not as pretty as some young ladies out there.  I’m not sure how these same women would feel about getting in a stranger’s car, though I imagine it would be no riskier than hailing a regular cab.

Surge Pricing – Something to Truly Fear
From my findings, UberX was generally cheaper than regular taxis except when Surge pricing was in effect. According to Uber, “With surge pricing, Uber rates increase to get more cars on the road and ensure reliability during the busiest times. When enough cars are on the road, prices go back down to normal levels. It’s important to know that you’ll always be notified in big, bold print if surge pricing is in effect. When rates are more than double, the surge confirmation screen also requires you to type in the specific surge multiplier to ensure you understand what rates to expect.”

During my 14 rides with UberX, I only encountered Surge pricing once at a rate of 1.4X.   The app clearly stated that Surge was in effect, and how it would multiply my bill.

If you think paying the peak hour taxi surcharge of 25% is painful, try 40%. At least it is still better than the 50% midnight taxi surcharge.

That being said, the Surge multiplier varies. One driver claims to have seen Surge pricing leap to 4X. That’s 400% of your bill!

In short, avoid UberX  when Surge pricing is in effect. Consider getting a regular taxi or even an UberExecutive car instead.

This feels like the future
At the time of this writing, I now use UberX to return home from the office every day. The $300 I spend on UberX each month is a lot less than the estimated $1.300-2,300 monthly cost of owning a car according to the Straits Times.

This change in my commuting habit is a true testament to the quality of UberX.  Also, it has completely eliminated my desire to buy a car in the short term. When I take an UberX car, I feel like a big boss being chauffered around. When I take a regular taxi, I feel like a hostage to a speeding, aggressive lane-cutting, PAP-hating uncle.

Aside from the convenient cashless payment, setting your pick-up and drop-off points via GPS or postal code makes for a fuss-free experience. You can also programme your office and home address so that you can do a one-press call for a UberX car. All the UberX drivers I have encountered have nailed the pick-up and drop-off points. No more calls from a shouting taxi driver who can’t find the pick-up point, or suffering a hapless cabbie who gets lost as he ferries you to your destination.

The Uber app also allows you to see the location of your car as it makes its way to you, so there’s no more worrying about the location of your taxi. It is just a terrible pity that UberX does not allow me to specify what kind of vehicle I need, especially if I need a 7-seater to accommodate more people.

The UberX drivers I’ve encountered appeared to be happier and well-rested compared to the average taxi driver. The UberX cars I’ve ridden also tend to be cleaner and in better shape than some of the taxis I have used over the years.

UberX feels like a revolutionary new service that fulfills all the promises of fuss-free, cheaper living that technology was suppose to usher in, but taxi companies have squandered over the last decade.

Uber’s various controversies have proven that it is far from perfect, but in a safe country like Singapore, those are risks I am willing to take. The question is, are you?

Click here to sign up for Uber. If you use my promo code p98zj you will get $10 off your first ride, and I get $10 credited to my account too.

*8 May 2015 Update*
GrabTaxi has launched GrabCar Economy – a direct competitor to Uber X. See my review and impressions here.

Author: Dedrick Koh

Dedrick Koh is an acclaimed , fully-booked classical guitar teacher who teaches from his home studio at Sengkang. He has been teaching the classical guitar since 2006 and has successfully prepared students for ABRSM and Trinity exams and he holds a flawless 100% pass rate, and a 90% merit/distinction rate for his students. He was previously an instructor cum assistant conductor at Ngee Ann Polytechnic Strings under Alex Abisheganaden . Dedrick Koh is also a former public relations and communications specialist, having carved out a notable 10-year career in both the public and private sector. He has work for/on brands like Nanyang Polytechnic, Coca Cola, DHL, Nokia, Nestle, the Health Promotion Board, the Economic Development Board of Singapore and the President Challenge. He also also been featured in the Straits Time, the New Paper, and CNN.

19 Replies to “Uber X Singapore Review – One Month of Ridesharing”

  1. Hi! Great article! Is it true that it is not that easy to remove your credit card details if you do not want the service anymore?

  2. Great article!! UberX is indeed an excellent service and as of March 2015 it now has an amazing promotion! I took my first ride today from Boon Lay to NUS and paid only $3. Seamless!

    1. They are made of metal and tend to come on four wheels. I think they are powered by internal combustion engines. Avoid the carriages with horses. Those are fake.

        1. “UberX uses private car services (like a scaled-down limousine service) with car makes that include Hyunda Sonata, Toyota Wish and Nissan Sunny. “

  3. Uber is probably cheaper because the driver probably do not have insurance covering the passenger as a taxi would.

  4. I respect your post is an opinion and with that in mind, I would like to put forward some information for your consideration. The long and short of your piece is CHEAP. You seem, and I could be wrong, to be using this as your sole or main criteria to be impressed with Uber and arrive at the conclusion it is better. Let me just list 4 categories in which there is no way Uber is better.

    1. Safety

    Taxis are installed with a black box, emergency security button and a video camera. That’s 3 items. The taxi (not the mobile phone) can be tracked at any time and road events during the trip are recorded via the videocam. In an emergency, the driver can press a security button where the inside of a taxi is immediately heard by the Call centre and help can be despatched. This makes for both passenger and driver safety. Now why don’t you get Uber to install these security systems first before you proclaim them cheaper?

    2. Driver Road Knowledge

    Singapore Taxi Drivers are not the best. But having said that, local customers rate Singapore Taxi Drivers as the best in the world and international customers rank Singapore constantly in the top 10. But our taxi prices are definitely not top 10 most expensive. Still think you’re getting a bad deal? No matter how kayu Taxi Drivers are, the most kayu still had to sit for a test on routes. Can’t say the same for app drivers.

    3. Various Forms of Payment Accepted

    Taxis have the ‘backward’ technology to accept more than 20 forms of payment, whatever the customer prefers. Uber? ONE. So much for technology, huh? After all the hype about great innovation, only ONE form of payment is allowed. I am so impressed, really I am. Don’t back the wrong horse when it comes to disruptive technologies is all I can say.

    4. Vehicle Road Worthiness

    Taxis are required to undergo LTA inspection every month where nice fines await should they find something wrong with your vehicle. Do you know how many hours are spent servicing the vehicle and taking it for inspection every month? No income for the taxi driver. Uber? No inspection.

    I think I have given more than enough factors to consider. And my honest view is that you simply want it cheap and have not actually considered what you’re paying for. You gripe about taxi companies setting their own price as a return to the old days but fail to recognise the same thing in Surge pricing. Biased much? At least it is not x3 or x4.

    Uber is sometimes cheaper for a clearly inferior service (and let’s be honest, the majority is 9 or 10 year old 1.6l Toyota Vios, most taxis are 2.0l and fairly new). It caters for the budget conscious crowd. I’ll give you that. But ‘better’? You gotta be kidding. Let me know when they set up a call centre to take calls and help non English speaking customers. Taxis even cater to those who aren’t tech savvy! And then tell me how much is the fare. And by the way, since when was downloading and inputting information into an app more convenient than making a phonecall?

    Please don’t take your fellow Sporean driver or taxis for granted. There are many other aspects that taxis top Uber but I think I made my point.

    1. If “cheap” is all you took away, then you missed the point. Not only is it cheaper, but I have found it more reliable with better quality service. The cars I tend to get with UberX also tend to be better. I don’t think customers are taking taxi drivers for granted. If anything, the opposite is true. For years,customers have been trying to give their business to taxi drivers, but some have been too picky to accept it! Now that there is a feasible alternative that will never say “no”, customers like myself have little reason to use taxis anymore.

      1. Well I have pointed out that Uber cars need not go for any inspections (ie. The rental company will change parts as it sees fit, good luck with that) while taxis must go for inspection every month. You consider this ‘quality’ when no process is in place whatsoever to ensure the vehicle is roadworthy? But you are of course entitled to your view. I should also add that if you get into a bad accident, you sue the driver directly. How this risk can be considered quality is hard for me to understand. Yes, they have insurance but first they have to pay excess. Of your Uber driver has no money in the bank…

        You believe that it is as safe to get into a Uber as a taxi despite that there are no security features at all (these guys can’t even get a license to operate). That is your right. So your daughter gets into a cab, one hour later she is not home. You can track the driver’s mobile, you cannot track his car. This may be good enough for you but to say that it is equally safe?

        If the above to you is “quality” and the future of taxis in Singapore is to dismantle the security functions, forgo vehicle inspections and only accept cash so customers can pay $2 less for SOME trips, then it is rather sad. But I remain optimistic that the regular Sporean (like others in Asia) has a different perspective from you on what is real value for money. In my experience, Uber is more for the young and budget conscious. The older (and more generous) crowd want their rides to be regulated.

        1. Are you implying that LTA allows for cars that are not roadworthy and that private car hire cars are exempt from LTA’s guidelines on vehicle inspection?

          Or are you saying that all vehicles that do not go for inspections as frequently as taxis should not be on the road? I’m sure plenty of car owners won’t be happy about bringing in their cars for inspection every month.

          Have you actually used Uber or Grab before? Because your description of their tracking sounds like you have not. You can track the trip in real-time and you can also see the driver’s photo, name and vehicle number. Not only do I find that safer than a regular taxi (which has none of these features), but it is serves as a powerful deterrent.

          Unless you have hard evidence to show that Uber and Grab drivers have statistically committed more crimes than taxi drivers, or that criminal law doesn’t apply to these drivers like it does to taxi drivers, I am not convinced that it is any less safe. To date I have taken over 100 rides with Uber X, and I felt perfectly safe. In fact, the majority of the drivers I have encountered seem to be well-educated with at least a diploma or degree; happy and quite polite – not the typically profile of a lowly-educated street criminal.

          I would trust my loved ones with this service. In fact, my girlfriend trusts it and has nearly taken as many rides as me. At least when my loved ones take this service, I can track their journey with all the aforementioned trip details. The same is not true of regular taxis.

          Ultimately, it is up to the individual to decide if they want to take the risk; nothing in life is 100% safe.

          But it is unfair, and insulting to say that these drivers are inherently more dangerous than taxi drivers. Unless, you have hard evidence that supports your claim, this is simply hypothetical fear-mongering.

  5. There is pro and con between Uber and Taxi. I would agree taxi is more regulated where the driver is required to take a license compared to Uber where they just need to meet a couple requirements to be Uber Driver.

    Personally, I would still prefer to take taxi over uber, cause I have this perception the taxi are trained, but uber drivers are not. Especially with kids, I would prefer taking a taxi.

    But having said that, Uber is doing its utmost to ensure passenger safety as mentioned. not forgetting Uber has passenger to rate the driver, if a driver performance falls under the city average they are be banned from Uber. hence, this keeps all drivers on their toes.

    Uber has a big plus point in payment, where the passenger can pay by credit card without incurring the 10% surcharge.

    Uber is certainly posing as a serious challenger to the Taxi Industry. Instead of depending on the government to regulate Uber, the taxi industry should also react to it.

    1. Hi John,

      Thanks for commenting. It’s good to give consumers more choices, and I would like to see a private transport industry with Uber, Grab and traditional taxis competing to provide high quality, safe and reliable journeys, at competitive prices.

      Honestly, I have heard the safety rationale many times, but my personal experience as both a driver and former taxi customer has been very different.

      I have experienced many taxi drivers speeding, and cutting into lanes aggressively. On the road I have also seen many taxi accidents in addition to the many accidents that get reported in the media, over, and over, and over again.

      To be fair, these are anecdotal accounts. I was not able to find recent statistics, but in 2010, former Transport Minister, Mr Raymond Lim stated that taxis are less likely to to be involved in accidents, at a rate of 0.17 per 1 million km travelled, compared to regular cars at 0.28.

      The same year, a now defunct AsiaOne article reported that despite accounting for only 3% of total vehicle population, Taxi Drivers are involved in 14% of all accidents.

      I have performed a lot of research in this area and SingStats does not provide a breakdown of taxi accidents for 2015, but from my experience, even if a taxi driver gets me to my destination accident-free, the reckless driving and speeding may leave me fearing for my life nonetheless!

      But I hope your experience is better, and I wish you and your family a safe and pleasant journey, regardless of what you choose.

  6. When Uber started, the UberX fare is reasonable. But now, it is almost the same fate as I took a taxi…

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