Home-grown company RYDE officially launches the app in Singapore and prepares to launch in Hong Kong next.
The home-grown company will be competing against the likes of UberPool and GrabHitch which offer similar carpooling apps for riders to split the cost of their paid journeys with fellow passengers.
Screenshots from the free app that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
RYDE is an iOS and Android app that lets paying subscribing members carpool.
A driver offers rides based on the journey he/she is planning to make while a rider posts the journey he/she needs.
“Our approach has been to solve the two key challenges of carpooling methodically – poor information exchange and a lack of mutual trust. We are the number one carpooling app in Singapore and our focus is on the social aspects of carpooling,” says Terence Zou, Founder and CEO of RYDE Technologies.
The app matches the two of them, based on best match, offering each a list of close matches in terms of their planned timings and routes, as well as personal preferences each can set – such as gender, age, and other profile information.
Drivers pay a subscription fee of S$30 a year to RYDE and can offer an unlimited number of rides while riders pay S$15 subscription a year to receive an unlimited number of rides.
Riders can also choose not to subscribe but they will have to pay 1 credit (currently set by RYDE as S$1) for each ride.
The credits can be purchased within the RYDE app that runs on iOS and Android devices.
The app also recommends an amount of money for the rider to pay the driver, based on the journey.
