MANILA – Grab drivers have been cancelling trips since the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) suspended their P2-per-minute charge, the ridesharing firm said.
Driver cancellation rate racked up to 11 percent last Friday, Grab said, citing lower fares that resulted in the firm servicing only half of the passenger demand.
“Drivers have to buy gas, pay the monthly amortization for the vehicle or the daily boundary, and when traffic stalls them, it is only the P2 per minute that saves their income,” Grab country head Brian Cu said in a statement released on Monday.
“With the P2 gone, many of our drivers earn less and drive less, if at all,” he added. “No matter how willing they are to drive, they are left with no choice but to think of ways to recover their expenses. Sadly, most of them have resorted to cancelling booking, especially when they know they will traverse traffic.”
Eighty percent of the travel duration charge goes directly to the driver while 20 percent is spent on driver incentives and rider promos, Cu said.
On Friday Grab filed a motion for reconsideration at the LTFRB, arguing that the travel charge is legal and in accordance with a 2015 Department of Transportation order that allows transportation network companies (TNCs) to set their fare rates.
Drivers would be forced to quit as transport network vehicle service operators if the travel charge is stopped, resulting in fewer vehicles for passengers, Grab warned.
“Let’s face it – kapag lugi ang driver, hindi lalabas iyan. Walang masasakyan ang tao,” said Cu.
In an order dated April 18, LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra III said the suspension stands as the board investigates the issue.
The LTFRB said there was no mention of any travel time rate, which Grab has been collecting, when it released its order on the fare structure of TNCs on Dec. 27, 2016.
The December 2016 order stated that Grab should impose a flag-down rate of P40, with an additional rate of P10 to P14 per kilometer. (PNA)
