Ryde won't use private-hire drivers, cabbies for new courier service

This article is more than 12 months old

Aug 17, 2018 06:00 am

Local transportation start-up Ryde has clarified that it will not tap private-hire drivers and cabbies for the new peer-to-peer, on-demand courier service it is launching on Sept 3.

In a statement yesterday, the company apologised for the confusion it had caused on Wednesday when it announced the new service RydeSend. It had said it will leverage on all 60,000 drivers on its platform to make ad hoc delivery of small items.

More than a fifth of Ryde's drivers are private-hire chauffeurs, while the remaining use the app for non-commercial car-pooling.

The announcement of RydeSend was met with a warning from the Land Transport Authority, which said the service would "contravene the regulations prohibiting public service vehicles such as taxis and private-hire cars from solely conveying goods".

It said "drivers accepting such jobs may have their vocational licences revoked". Under the law, private-hire cars and taxis are meant to carry passengers for hire and reward, and cannot be used for the conveyance of goods.

Ryde said it will not tap private-hire drivers or the cabbies it had signed up for RydeSend. Instead, it will tap private drivers, who may be available in their spare time to deliver items for the app's users.