Zero-commission Tada launches Tada Taxi, to give taxi drivers own ride-hailing platform

Tada’s new booking app was launched by Mass Vehicle Ledger (MVL) Foundation on Thursday, November 15, and looks like the company, which collects zero commissions from its drivers, will give Grab and Comfort DelGro a serious run for their money.

The Land Transport Authority released MVL’s Third Party Taxi Booking Service Provider license on Wednesday last week, November 7, allowing passengers to now book rides via the Tada and the Tada Taxi apps. Around 2000 taxi drivers are included in Tada’s fleet, due to link-ups with other taxi firms, such as Premier Taxi.

Tada, meaning “Let’s ride” in Korean, was actually launched in Singapore last July. Owned by MVL, Tada is a ride-hailing app using innovative blockchain technology and is well-known for not charging drivers any commission fees. What the company does is collect a 3.4 percent transaction fees via payment gateway Stripe.

Likewise, Tada Taxi will also not be collecting commissions from their drivers, whose earnings get deposited in their bank accounts right away.

According to Kay Woo, the CEO of MVL, “Recent industry developments have resulted in increasing demands from both commuters and drivers for more options. Tada Taxi will benefit drivers who find that driving taxis may help them generate more revenue and certain demographics of riders who ultimately prefer taxis.

MVL has recognised this gap in the industry, and we also want to support existing taxi drivers by giving them a ride-hailing platform of their own.”

Read related: The battle heats up: Go-Jek/DBS vs Grab/UOB