MANILA — Ridesharing firm Grab Philippines is seeking for the onboarding of around 6,000 drivers into its platform which were displaced due to the halt in the operations of its corporate rival Uber last month following their acquisition.
This, as Grab has reiterated its commitment to work with transport regulators on replenishing the supply of drivers in response to increasing demand from its passengers.
“Our immediate priority is to work with regulators to onboard the 6,000 displaced drivers who are not part of the LTFRB masterlist. We are continuously working with government agencies to find a long-term solution on the supply issue,” Grab country marketing head Cindy Toh said in a statement.
To address the situation, Grab is regularly releasing incentives to increase driver productivity by at least 15 percent per day.
The firm also encourages its riders to utilize the Grab Share feature on its mobile app to share its available cars to fellow passengers and to save on fuel costs.
Passengers may also use GrabCar’s Multi-Stop feature for multiple destinations instead of booking separately.
“We also seek our passengers to plan their trips and book ahead of time,” Toh said.
Grab currently receives around 600,000 passenger booking requests each day but only 35,000 vehicles are available to serve the riding public.
The overflow in demand and severe undersupply of cars has resulted in longer waiting times for passengers or not getting allocated a vehicle according to the ridesharing firm.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has imposed a common supply cap of 65,000 transportation network vehicle services (TNVS) units in Metro Manila.
The LTFRB said it is open to a possible review of the supply cap of TNVS units. (Aerol John Pateña/PNA)
