Photo credit: The Business Times

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore has issued a Street-hail Service Operator Licence to Grab.

LTA said the license is valid for 10 years starting April 9, and it was awarded to GrabCab – a subsidiary of Grab Rentals and a sister company of GrabCar.

GrabCar is the ride-hailing and food delivery subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Grab Holdings and is currently licensed to offer ride-hailing and car-pooling services.

The Street-hail Service Operator Licence allows a company to operate taxis, which can serve both street-hail and ride-hail rides. Private hire cars used for ride-hailing may only be used to serve ride-hailing rides.

With the new license, Grab has become the sixth taxi company in the city-state, after CityCab and Comfort Transportation (both subsidiaries of ComfortDelGro), Prime Taxi, Strides Premier, and Trans-cab Services.

GrabCab will be given a three-year grace period to progressively expand its fleet to at least 800 taxis, LTA added.

In 2024, Grab’s proposed acquisition of taxi operator Trans-cab Services fell through after both parties withdrew their application to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore.

See also: Grab’s deal for its second Malaysian supermarket checks out

This story was republished with permission from The Business Times. It was moderately edited to reflect Tech in Asia’s editorial guidelines.