This tactic might sound familiar to some GrabShare drivers in Singapore.

Commiseration time

A private-hire vehicle driver, Johnray Lee, shared a post to a Facebook group for other drivers about how some GrabShare riders try to game the system.

These riders do it apparently to avoid sharing rides with other riders.

Here's what he wrote:

This morning I get 1 share jobs from 1 Selanting Green condo to SGH blk 5. It show 2pax but when I arrived only 1 lady was take my car. I asked her where is the others pax. She replied that her mother showering, she can't wait for her. I call grab about this issue, their advice was told the pax to cancel after we press arrived. We get $4.00. If the pax do not want to cancel. We wait 3 min and press no show. DO NOT TAKE THIS JOB. REMEMBER. This is cheating case member. They try to occupy the sit so that the next pax can't share. We loss income bcos of their selfishness. Be wise to handle when you meet 1 in future. Told them to think about driver. We provide low fare and yet you try to take more from us.

How to avoid sharing a GrabShare ride

In short, Johnray Lee claimed that a passenger booked a GrabShare ride by indicating there were two riders.

But when he arrived at the pick-up location, only one woman entered the car.

The woman passenger then claimed that she could not wait for her mother who was showering.

Deprived driver of earnings

Johnray Lee advised fellow drivers not to proceed with the ride.

Instead, the driver can insist that the passenger cancels.

If not, the driver can indicate the ride as a "no-show" after waiting for the requisite three minutes.

Several drivers responded to Johnray Lee's post with similar encounters:

One driver also provided another way to deal with such passengers:

Drivers lose out on income because of selfish passengers

Some GrabShare riders might employ this tactic because once there are two passengers booked for the ride, the probability of picking up another passenger is lower.

This way, the rider has a higher chance of riding alone -- essentially the same as snagging a JustGrab ride but paying 35 percent less.

More importantly, there is no fare difference if the GrabShare rider books a ride for two passengers.

However, such riders deprive Grab drivers of income because they pick up fewer passengers.

Riders who do not wish to share rides can consider booking JustGrab.

For those who want to take a cheaper ride, most trains stations are just a 10-minute walk away.

Top image by Joshua Lee and from Facebook.