With platform fees up, which ride-hailing app offers the best value?

A Straits Times team booked a total of 45 rides on Grab, Gojek, Ryde, Tada and Zig over three days to see how the apps fared against one another. Here are the findings.

- Aqil Hamzah

Straits Times reporters (clockwise from top left) Aqil Hamzah, Letitia Chen, Esther Loi and Megan Wee were among those who took part in the three-day experiment. While the three days are a brief window for comparison, they offer an indication of how Grab, Gojek, Ryde, Tada and Zig stacked up during the period. The comparison also sought to shed light on the extent to which the recent fee adjustments are shaping what users pay.

(ST PHOTOS: AZMI ATHNI)

If you are rushing to work during the morning peak hour, your best bet might be Zig by ComfortDelGro — both in terms of wait time and price.

Grab was, on average, the costliest option for morning and lunchtime rides. Yet it was not the fastest from booking to a driver’s arrival, with Tada and Zig cars arriving ahead of Grab’s at times, while costing less as well.

However, in the evenings, Grab was the quickest option and the third-cheapest among five platforms, with fares nearly on a par with Gojek’s.

Ryde was the most expensive platform in the evenings, on average.

Tada generally recorded shorter wait times across the mornings, afternoons and evenings. It was the second-costliest option in the morning, but the cheapest platform at noon and in the evening.

These were the key findings by a team of Straits Times reporters who booked rides on five ride-hailing apps - Grab, Gojek, Ryde, Tada and Zig — over three days in January, on Jan 19, 23 and 28. They made three trips per app each day, on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, comparing fares and wait times across a total of 45 journeys.

This came on the back of some operators raising platform fees from Jan 1, saying platform worker protections necessitated the move.

Shortly after ST’s experiment, Gojek raised its platform fee by 20 cents from February. It previously ranged from 90 cents to $1.50, but now costs passengers between $1.10 and $1.70.