Singapore's largest taxi company, ComfortDelGro is facing tough competition from private-hire services such as Uber and Grab, which make up half the market for point-to-point transport options.
Earlier in September, Grab launched what it calls "huge rental discounts" to woo customers from ComfortDelGro.
The offer went live just two weeks after ComfortDelGro announced talks with U.S.-based Uber on a potential tie-up.
However, nothing has been announced till date with regards to Uber Technologies' potential alliance, resulting in a loss in share price.
ComfortDelGro has lost about 11 per cent of its value since announcing the negotiations in August. The stock's market capitalisation has declined by US$1.2 billion so far this year, mainly on concerns about its taxi business, Bloomberg data showed.
Recently, the land transport giant did not perform well financially. For the third quarter ended September 30, its taxi business posted an 11.2 percent decline in revenue to S$298.3 million due to "increased competition".
The battle is likely to get intense with the new entrant BlueSG, the first large-scale electric car-sharing scheme in Singapore, starting operations next week with 80 cars.
There will be two price plans – one that has a monthly subscription of $15, and 33 cents per minute of use, while the other charges no monthly fee but 50 cents per minute.
While BlueSG is a relatively small player unlike Grab and Uber, it could still pose a threat to the cab-sharing businesses in Singapore.
