Budget Traveling: Long distance | Ride sharing

What is long-distance ride-sharing? It’s really just carpooling (or GrabHitching) for an extremely long distance, and can be easily accessed via the Grab app on your phone!

Grab recently introduced cross-border services, where commuters can carpool to Johor Bahru. With this new form of “commuting”, you can avoid the lengthy custom queues at Woodlands Checkpoint or crossing the border on foot.

So how do we do it? Simple. You set your destination to Johor Bahru, Malaysia and Grab will work its magic for you — grabbing one or two fellow commuters and you’re off to our neighbouring country in no time!

Here’s why we think there are benefits to long distance ride sharing experiences.

It’s the cheaper alternative

While you share a ride, you immediately share the cost of it and at times, ride sharing can even be cheaper than taking public transport. Service such as GrabHitch could mean cheaper rides, with fares per trip estimated to be up to twenty to forty percent less than fares of uberX/JustGrab, typically its cheapest service.

GrabHitch drivers will match their route with passengers whose going towards the same or similar direction, even if they have different pick up and drop-off points. Commuters may choose the destination they are headed for during the booking stage and will be given an upfront fare, which is great for price comparison among the different services the ride sharing app offers!

Convenience

Mobile apps such as Uber and Grab have made all of our lives easier by introducing their ride-sharing services — Uberpool, GrabShare and GrabHitch — to the world. With just a tap on our smartphone screens, they work their magic behind the scenes to pair us up with commuters heading to a similar location at anytime of the day!

You get to meet new people

If you’re going to be sitting in a car for an hour-long journey with a total stranger assigned by the app, chances are you’ll both start getting increasingly uncomfortable as the time passes, and the only salvation will come when either of you alight.

The solution? Strike up a conversation with your co-rider! Singaporeans are generally friendly people once you get them to open up. You could talk to them about the weather, your hobbies or food. Who knows, you may even alight with a new friend!

It’s environmentally friendly

It’s a known fact that cars emit harmful pollutants when burning gasoline, which in turn lead to air pollution. Air pollution has been linked to several health issues such as heart disease, asthma, birth defects, and more significantly, global warming. By sharing a ride, you are essentially reducing the vehicle numbers on the road and the amount of carbon monoxide emitted into the air. So do yourself and the environment a favour now by sharing a ride!

The way we travel has definitely changed significantly in recent years, with the introduction of vehicle-for-hire apps such as Grab and Uber. These apps include a wide range of  travelling options, from the regular to the luxurious, to the family-oriented and many more. Gone are the days of flagging down taxicabs in the sweltering heat of our perpetually unrelenting sun, or the long waits for buses that are constantly packed with commuters.

With the advent of these vehicle-for-hire services, we now have a wider variety of transportation options. The introduction of ride-sharing services has opened up another dimension of travelling in our already multi-faceted travelling experience, with a cheaper, more convenient and environmentally friendly way to travel.