SINGAPORE — Taxi passengers willing to fork out extra for a cab during peak hours now have another way of securing a ride, with a new service by the company behind taxi-booking mobile app GrabTaxi.

GrabCar, in partnership with limousine companies, will allow users to book a private-hire premium car. For a four-seater Mercedes Benz, the cost is S$38 for trips under 4km. Beyond that, passengers will be charged S$50 for trips regardless of distance, time and ERP charges. There is also a surcharge of S$10 between midnight and 6am.

Passengers can select from several car options, such as a four-seater Volkswagen Passat or a 13-seater Toyota Hiace. The waiting time for a private-hire car is comparable to that for taxis, said GrabTaxi.

Apart from GrabCar, Uber — a transportation network company based in San Francisco — also provides a similar service here. UberBLACK, with a base fare of S$7, charges S$0.45 a minute and S$1.95 for every kilometre travelled. The minimum fare for the service is S$12.

When asked about GrabCar’s pricing vis-a-vis its competitors, Mr Lim Kell Jay, general manager of GrabTaxi Singapore, said: “If you look at what limos are being priced at in Singapore right now, we are actually on par.”

He added that since the new service charges a fixed fare, shorter distances may seem a bit more expensive.

“However, if you book (a car for long distances) ... it would be more affordable compared with (our competitors),” said Mr Lim at the launch of GrabCar yesterday.

GrabTaxi declined to reveal the size of the fleet serving under GrabCar, but said it would be adjusting the fleet in accordance to observed demand.

Limousine companies contacted by TODAY had mixed views about whether the private hire service offered by the likes of Uber and GrabCar would eat into their business.

Mr Tashi Khoo, owner of TashiLimo, felt it would affect the businesses of both small and large limousine service companies.

“If they are slashing prices as Uber had done, it will definitely affect limousine companies like us a lot,” he said.

However, Mr Patrick Lee, owner of Maxi Cab, believes in his solid customer base.

“It doesn’t matter who pushes out what new services; it is how we manage our companies. I am confident that we would not be too much affected by this new service,” he said.

Singapore is the fourth country to launch GrabCar, after Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

To date, GrabTaxi, which describes itself as South-east Asia’s largest taxi-booking mobile application, said it has more than 1.5 million app downloads and about 270,000 active users a month.