A post shared on Facebook has been gaining much attention. The post was a conversation between a Grab driver and a rider.
What happened
It seems to be the usual problem that Grab drivers faced everyday.
Grab driver accepts an incoming job request where rider states that they are travelling with children. After accepting, Grab driver text the rider to inform them that private-hire vehicles are not allowed to ferry children under the height of 1.35m without a child seat. Instead of cancelling the trip for their own mistake, rider shouted (in CAPS) at the driver to cancel the booking now.
When the driver refused to cancel, the rider claimed that he/she works in LTA and threatened to report the driver if he does not cancel now.
What is the big deal? Just Cancel lah
It makes sense that driver should not have accepted in the first place if there was no intent to do the trip. However, Grab drivers’ hands are tied. For drivers who want to achieve the weekly incentives, they must have at least a 90% acceptance rate and cancellation rate of less than 10%.
Grab has also introduced a minimum weekly acceptance ratings that drivers are required to adhere to. Failure to meet the minimum weekly acceptance ratings will result in the driver being removed from the Grab system. The implementation of the new requirement has upset many Grab drivers.
A problem that needs to be solved
Ignorance or wilful? Riders simply disregard the law and continue to book JustGrab when they are travelling with children under the height of 1.35m. If they are lucky enough, they would get a taxi, which is exempted from the child seat rule. If they are ‘unlucky’ enough, they get assigned a private-hire vehicle.
Instead of booking taxis or GrabFamily, riders book JustGrab in an attempt to beat the system by indicating in the comment that they are travelling with children, assuming that Grab would only assign taxis to them. JustGrab is a cheaper option compared to GrabTaxi or GrabFamily.
To the rider who threatened the driver, we wish you good luck for impersonating as an LTA officer (assuming he/she is bluffing) and abusing their authority to threaten the driver.
