Like most countries in South East Asia, Grab taxi service is available in Cambodia and is popular with both travellers and locals alike. However, as soon as we arrived in Cambodia we found out it’s actually dwarfed by another app-based taxi service called Pass App. Therefore, I thought I’d see how it compared to Grab and which one was the best option for getting from A to B.

So firstly how does Pass App work?

It works in the same way as Uber or Grab. You call a taxi using their app, select your choice of vehicle and input your destination. You will then be shown an estimated total fare for your journey.

Once a driver accepts your ride you’ll be sent their vehicle information to allow you to distinguish them once they arrive. You’ll also be able to track where they are on the app’s map.

With Pass App you have the option to pay with cash or with a gift card account (I never figured this one out), and also to rate your driver the journey out of 5.

 

Pass App vs Grab: The Pros

1.Pass App generally seemed to be cheaper than Grab. The fare quoted when you add your destination is just an estimation on Pass App rather than a fixed rate like it is on Grab. And around 90% of the time I found that the estimated/actual fare for Pass App was cheaper than the set fare on Grab.

2.Pass App is way more popular than Grab so waiting times for a car or tuk-tuk was a maximum of 4 minutes, but most of the time was less than 2 minutes.

3.With Pass App you can book mainly rickshaws which offer cheaper rates. Whilst with Grab it was mostly only cars available to book which were more expensive or motorbikes which can only fit one passenger on.

 

Pass App vs Grab: The Cons

1.Grab has the option to connect your card to their app meaning you don’t have to pay with cash all the time. Whilst with PassApp cash seemed like the only option.

2.The map function on Pass App could do with some improvement. It’s rather basic and quite a few drivers seem to struggle navigating with it. This was proven by us going on some very weird routes sometimes.

3.Grab has a whole customer loyalty rewards scheme built into its app whilst Pass App has none.

 

Although it does have some flaws I would still recommend using Pass App over Grab in Cambodia specifically. It’s cheaper, more accessible and is available in all the Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and other smaller cities and towns. You can download Pass App for iPhone here and for Android here.

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