Previously I have shared many articles on Ryde:
What’s the best way to use Ryde:
When I first learned about Ryde vouchers, I was only aware
of the 20% discount on Lazada,. Further digging on Shopee lead me to find even more discounts there.
In my case, I’ve gotten a lot of help from friends and accumulated
this amount of vouchers. It was a BIG risk on my part as none of
them heard of Ryde and felt that could be a cash call before they file for bankruptcy
like most other start-ups facing a lack of funding.
However, I’m still enjoying the discounts.
PS: I’m already enjoying an 18%
discount by using RydeFlash, so the 30% discount from the vouchers is a gigantic
discount.
Nevertheless, there are many learning experiences:
Buying the vouchers:
- Buy them when there’s Item + Shop + Platform
Discount.
This will give you a discount of about 30 - 40%.
It’s possible to stretch + 5% - 11% discount with UOB partnership - Store the voucher codes somewhere.
I’ve tried not to load the vouchers into Ryde Wallet as I wanted to sell them to my friends who might have missed the deal after warming up to Ryde. However, shopee deleted the voucher link on their notifications page, and I had a horrible time reaching their marketing team who re-shared the voucher codes.
Ryde Experience:
- Lack of drivers
Remember that drivers have to choose their jobs. It’s not assigned, we are all humans. - Schedule Rides to lock in pre-surge prices
Like the last point, drivers are humans. No one will pick me up when it’s too cheap.
So it’s better to refresh the booking nearer to the early surge and refresh for a reasonable price. - Waiting Time
The waiting time is tight and I get paranoid when drivers mark “arrived” before reaching. However, Ryde system states that the waiting time only starts when the driver has marked arrived AND actually arrived according to GPS. This prevents abuse and I have always gotten my waiver if I was charged incorrectly.
Thinking for the drivers:
- Cancelling rides:
When drivers cancel rides, their cancellation rates go up and after a threshold, it affects their reward eligibility. Raising a dispute takes time and normally the case close right after the response with no room for further conversations. The driver will have to raise a new case when unsuccessful. It’s easier to cancel at the rider’s end as Ryde is client-centric. - Bulky items – For Ryde Flash
The idea of RydeFlash is to pick and go. So drivers will frown if you take up too much of the car/boot space. The acceptable limit is 1 piece of luggage. - Assigning Favourite Drivers
After each ride, you can mark the driver as a favourite. Subsequently, you can assign the job to the driver. This is useful if I want to pick up a friend on the way and book 2 separate trips with the same driver. This is because RydeFlash seems to aggregate the fares of the 2 individual trips into one multiple-trip fare. making the whole exercise pointless.
P.S. If the driver didn’t receive the job, just restart the app.
Summary
I am a little sad that despite my sharing, I’ve only convinced
3-4 of my friends to hop on. I did read articles and vlogs by others on
the cost of ride-hailing but honestly don’t dig deep enough. The only one I agree with is that TADA is cheaper and more stable. However, their
voucher program is not generous as Ryde’s .
That said, I did notice higher base fares in Sengkang eroding the voucher savings.
As the saying goes, “Be
careful what you wish for.” 😅😅😅😅
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