Singaporeans have another way to share rides with strangers with launch of UberPool

SINGAPORE -- Singaporeans will soon get another way of splitting ride fares with other passengers, with Uber launching its carpooling service here on Friday, July 1.

The service, called UberPool, will pair riders up with others going to the same place at the same time, which could be helpful in the mornings during rush hour, as people make their way to the central business district.

Uber claims a shared ride will cost up to 25 percent less than a comparable UberX trip. The app calculates how the ride should be split based on which portion of the trip was shared by different riders.

UberPool was first launched in August 2014 in the U.S., and recently started rolling it out in Southeast Asia, with Jakarta getting it in May, and Manila two weeks ago.

The service competes with Grab's GrabHitch service, which has been here since November 2015.

Lim Kell Jay, Head of Grab Singapore told Mashable that the pool of people signing on as drivers with the programme grows more than 50 percent every month.

"Correspondingly, our GrabHitch ride bookings have also increased by more than 50 percent month on month," he said.

Lim added that Grab emphasises the "experience of meeting new people beyond sharing a ride to save cost."

Oh, Singaporeans have already had a taste of the awkwardness that comes with sharing rides with complete strangers, going by their tweets.

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Filipinos in Manila have also been tweeting their reactions to UberPool in the past two weeks. 

Some were giddy at the prospect of meeting a new romantic match:

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Some found the social experience stressful:

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UPDATE: June 29, 2016, 8:20 p.m. SGT Updated with response from Grab.

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