PRIVATE car hire companies Grab and Lyft have joined forces to integrate each other’s platforms into their own, granting users access to a combined pool of taxi and private car hires without having to download both apps.
Grab is strong in the South-east Asian market, having operations in 30 cities spread across six countries, while Lyft is popular and available in over 200 US cities.
The advantage of the two-way integration is that it enables international travellers access to local on-demand rides using the app they are accustomed to and the payment option they already have set up, whether by Paypal or credit card.
This offering is part of a larger deal made public in December 2015 where companies Grab, Lyft, Didi Chuxing and Ola will jointly embark in a four-way integration, granting travellers from South-east Asia, the US, China and India easy access to sharing economy car hire services in each other’s markets.
According to a joint statement by Grab and Lyft, the eventual partnership with Didi Chuxing and Ola will allow them to serve almost 50 per cent of the world’s population in totality.
