Grab users in Singapore, who are open to paying a higher fare to secure their transportation in advance for important occasions such as catching a flight, will need to make their bookings seven days to two hours before their preferred pickup time from May 11 onwards.

Grab Singapore will be extending the "Advance Booking Beta" on a large scale from Saturday, which overhauls its previous version of the service, said the company in a May 10 media release.

Previously, users of the scheduled pickup feature could secure their transportation seven days to one hour in advance.

According to Grab Singapore, the new booking window will allow the platform to have "sufficient time to allocate a driver-partner to the booking" while ensuring the assigned driver-partner is able to arrive on schedule.

Other changes

In addition to the change to the booking window, the waiting time for the service will be extended to 15 minutes, up from the current three to five minutes.

Users will also be charged the full fare for the trip if they cancel within an hour of the scheduled time.

According to Grab Singapore, this new cancellation fee is "to ensure that driver-partners are compensated for their effort", as they will already be on their way to the pick-up point during this time frame.

Concurrently, the complimentary personal accident coverage that was previously extended to users will be enhanced.

Revamped after feedback from consumers and driver-partners

Grab Singapore also added that the service was launched to address feedback that the company received from its consumers and driver-partners about service reliability.

While passengers had previously experienced "uncertainty about ride arrival times", driver-partners were "unsure if it adequately compensates them for their time".

One enhancement Grab Singapore rolled out was fine-tuning its allocation system, which ensures it will only assign advance bookings to driver-partners who are able to commit to fulfilling the booking.

Also available outside of Singapore

Besides Singapore, the service will be available in Jakarta, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and for airport rides in Metro Manila and Klang Valley.

"We will progressively roll this out to more cities as we continue to gather feedback and improve the service," added the company.

More details about the service can be found here.

Top images via Canva, Grab Singapore