Ride-hailing applications in Southeast Asia: A literature review

Figures & data

Figure 1. Ride-hailing application and taxi market in SEA.

Source: RHA and taxi penetration and revenue were obtained from Statista (Statista, 2021)

*Number of operating RHA was counted from the RHA companies with more than 100,000 downloads.

Table 1. Major transportation applications in SEA countries.

Applications	Ride hailing		Food & Parcel Delivery	Number of downloads**	SEA countries served	Country of Headquarter
	Car	Motorcycle
Grab	✓	✓	✓	> 100 million	Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam	Singapore
foodpanda			✓	> 50 million	Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand	Germany
Lalamove			✓	> 5 million	Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam	Hong Kong
Gojek		✓	✓	> 50 million	Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam	Indonesia
My Blue Bird	✓*			> 1million	Indonesia	Indonesia
Angkas		✓	✓	> 1million	Philippines	Philippines
JoyRide		✓	✓	> 100,000	Philippines	Philippines
Owto	✓			> 100,000	Philippines	Philippines
Mr.Speedy			✓	> 50,000	Philippines	Philippines
Move It	✓	✓		> 50,000	Philippines	Philippines
hirna	✓*			> 50,000	Philippines	Philippines
Bolt	✓			> 10 million	Thailand	Estonia
Line Man	✓*		✓	> 5 million	Thailand	Thailand
SKOOTAR			✓	> 100,000	Thailand	Thailand
GoBike		✓		> 100,000	Thailand	Thailand
Robinhood			✓	> 100,000	Thailand	Thailand
Taxi OK	✓*			> 50,000	Thailand	Thailand
MyCar	✓		✓	> 100,000	Malaysia	Malaysia
EzCab	✓			> 100,000	Malaysia	Malaysia
Gojo	✓		✓	> 50,000	Malaysia	Malaysia
PassApp	✓	✓		> 1 million	Cambodia	Cambodia
WeGo Taxi	✓			> 100,000	Cambodia	Cambodia
Zelo		✓		> 100,000	Cambodia	Cambodia
Phumi / iTsumo	✓*	✓		> 10,000	Cambodia	Cambodia
Nham24			✓	> 100,000	Cambodia	Cambodia
Taxi Mai Linh	✓*			> 500,000	Vietnam	Vietnam
Vinasun Taxi	✓*			> 500,000	Vietnam	Vietnam
EMDDI	✓			> 50,000	Vietnam	Vietnam
LOCA	✓			> 10,000	Laos	Laos

Source: Searched from Google Play Store by authors in December 2020.

Note: * Fleet of hailing services on these platforms are only traditional taxis/motorcycle taxis. **Number of downloads is not limited to the downloads in SEA.

Table 2. Internet access in ASEAN.

Country	Internet penetration (Users as % of population)	Fixed-line subscriber penetration (per 100 inhabitants)	Mobile subscriber penetration (per 100 inhabitants)	Mobile connection (% of population)
				3G	4G
Brunei	94.9	9.6	126.6	92.7	90.0
Cambodia	34.0	0.8	126.3	83.9	57.5
Indonesia	32.3	2.3	173.8	93.8	90.4
Lao PDR	25.5	0.4	54.1	78.0	9.0
Malaysia	80.1	8.5	133.9	96.2	92.0
Myanmar	30.7	0.2	89.8	90.5	75.1
Philippines	60.1	3.2	110.4	93.0	80.0
Singapore	84.4	25.8	148.2	100.0	100.0
Thailand	52.9	11.9	176.0	98.0	98.0
Vietnam	49.6	10.8	125.6	95.0	95.0
China	54.3	28.0	104.6	98.0	98.0
India	34.5	1.3	87.3	88.0	88.0

Source: (Chen, 2020).

Figure 2. Conceptual framework of literature review pertaining RHA in SEA.

Figure 3. Study locations and sources of the reviewed articles.

Figure 4. Growth of RHA literature in SEA.

Table 3. RHA articles by research topic and country.

Topics	Number of Articles	Articles
Demand side	28
- Characteristics of RHA Users	12	Indonesia: Silalahi et al. (2017); Irawan et al. (2019a); Suatmadi et al. (2019) The Philippines: Nistal and Regidor (2016); UBER (2016); Paronda et. al. (2017) Malaysia: Weng et al. (2017); Adam et al. (2020) Cambodia: Phun et al. (2019a) Vietnam: Su et al. (2021); Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2020) Thailand: Laosinwattana et al. (2021)
- Characteristics of RHA Trips	9	Indonesia: Silalahi et al. (2017); Irawan et al. (2019a); Suatmadi et al. (2019) The Philippines: Nistal and Regidor (2016); UBER (2016); Paronda et. al. (2017) Malaysia: Adam et al. (2020) Cambodia: Phun et al. (2019a) Vietnam: Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2020)
- Behavioral Intention of RHA Use, Customers’ Satisfaction and Loyalty	16	Indonesia: Silalahi et al. (2017); Kuswanto et al. (2019); Suhartanto et al. (2020) Thailand: Ruangkanjanases and Techapoolphol (2018); Tansitpong (2019); Homniem and Pupat (2020); Thaithatkul et al. (2021) Malaysia: Weng et al. (2017); Haba and Dastane (2018); Teo et al. (2018); Adam et al. (2020) Vietnam: Su et al. (2021); Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2020); Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2021a); Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2021b) Multiple cities: Munandar and Munthe (2019)
- Substitution or complementary to public transit	7	Indonesia: Ilahi et al. (2021); Irawan et al. (2019a); Irawan et al. (2019b); Suatmadi et al. (2019); Nugroho et al. (2020) The Philippines: UBER (2016); Paronda et al. (2017)
- Comparisons between RHA and Other Modes	5	The Philippines: Dela Peña and Dizon (2016); Nistal and Regidor (2016); Paronda et. al. (2017); Regidor and Napalang (2018); Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2021a)
Supply side	16
RHA-Ts	11
- Drivers’ characteristics	5	Indonesia: Alifah Dina (2017) Cambodia: Phun et al. (2018); Phun et al. (2020) Vietnam: Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2019); Truong and Nguyen (2019)
- Operational characteristics	4	Indonesia: Ford and Honan (2017) The Philippines: Limpin and Sison (2018) Cambodia: Phun et al. (2020); Jack (2020)
- Accidental risks	2	Vietnam: Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2019); Truong and Nguyen (2019)
- Relationship between RHA-Ts and related transportation operators	6	Indonesia: Palevsky (2019); Ford and Honan (2017); Suatmadi et al. (2019) Cambodia: Phun et al. (2018); Phun et al. (2020) Vietnam: Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2020)
RHA-Cs	8
- Characteristics of RHA-Cs	3	Indonesia: Filicitas (2019) Cambodia: Phun et al. (2018) Multiple cities: Brail (2020)
- Relationship between RHA-Cs and RHA-Ts	5	Indonesia: Nastiti (2017); Ford and Honan (2017); Palevsky (2019); Ford and Honan (2019); Frey (2020)
Public-sector stakeholders: Regulation	8
- Regulation of RHA-Cs	8	Indonesia: Ford and Honan (2017); Fajar et al. (2019) The Philippines: Napalang and Regidor (2017) Malaysia: Izahar bin Mohamad Izham (2018) Multiple cities: Mutiarin et al. (2019); Lim (2019); Yuana et a. (2019); Eloksari (2020)
- Driver, vehicle, and operational requirements	2	Indonesia: Fajar et al. (2019) Malaysia: Izahar bin Mohamad Izham (2018)

Table 4. Comparisons between findings from literature review of RHA in SEA and developed countries.

Aspects	SEA Literature Review	Global Review (primarily in developed countries) by Tirachini (2020)
Demand-side
Users	Young, highly educated, all income brackets	Young, highly educated, high income (context-dependent)
Trip purpose	Commuting, education	Social, recreational
Frequency	More frequent	Occasional
Factors affecting demand & reasons for RHA use	Price, safety, relative convenience	Trip cost, travel time, ease of payment, alcohol drinking, limited parking, poor public transport, comfort, safety, and security
Supply-side
Vehicles	Motorcycles, cars, informal modes	Mainly cars
Drivers	Full time, passenger and delivery services	Part time, mainly passenger service
Effects of RHA on
Public transport use	Mixed results: substitution to public transport in some cities; complementary to public transport for longer trips	Mixed results but stronger substitutional effect but for only occasional trips
Private vehicle ownership; VKT; vehicle occupancy	Not found in the literature	Potential reduction, but inconclusive; Less rate of empty haul than taxis; Evidence of increased occupancy from the ride-sharing feature
Parking	Not found in the literature	Less need for parking supply
Mode substitution	Taxis; transit for shorter trips	Taxis, public transport, driving personal cars
Induced demand	Not found in the literature	Significant
Mobility of the handicapped population	Not found in the literature	Potential improvement
Safety	Some findings on factors affecting crash frequency among motorcycle taxi and RHA drivers	Effects on total number of accidents are unknown. Reduction in fatalities related to alcohol-related crashes
Environment	Inconclusive, some evidence of negative effect due to greater empty haul	Disputed

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