GrabBike – a part of GrabTaxi – is an on-demand service for motorcycle taxis. GrabBike is officially launching in Bangkok on August 5th, which makes Thailand the third country on GrabBike’s expansion across Southeast Asia, after Vietnam and Indonesia. However the company itself, GrabTaxi, is no stranger to Thailand. Its regular taxi-hailing service has been around since October 2013.
In Indonesia, GrabBike competes with a similar local service called Go-Jek., but as far as I know, GrabBike will be the first to offer app-based motorcycle hailing in Thailand. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.)
Thailand vs. Indonesia
There’s one key difference in the “motorcycle-taxi market” in Thailand vs. Indonesia:
Most moto-taxis in Thailand are registered with the government, wear a yellow vest and have an ID card. I wonder if GrabBike will work in some form of partnership with them, and whether they got full government approval?
In Indonesia, the legal status of services like GrabBike and Go-Jek is still debated. Motorcycle taxis have so far not been regulated in any way. And Go-Jek and GrabBike drivers are even getting bullied by motorcycle taxi drivers who prefer the old ways.
We’ll report more on how the service is received in the “Big Mango” after the launch.