25% of Grab drivers will not see trip destination starting Friday

Starting Friday, one in four Grab drivers will no longer see where riders are going prior to accepting a booking.

The ride-hailing platform made the adjustment in an effort to lower the number of trip cancellations and “reduce selective behavior of drivers.”

“We hear what our riders want and we will continue to improve our services while making bookings more efficient for our drivers. We will implement non-showing of passenger information before ride acceptance, as it is a major source of complaints,” Grab Philippines country head Brian CU said in a statement on Tuesday.

However, this feature will only be rolled out initially to 25 percent of Grab drivers with historically low acceptance rates.

During the wee hours, drivers will still have the option to see the trip destination for their own safety. Passengers will also be required to provide correct and complete account information for security purposes.

“We will never compromise safety and we will always put the welfare of our drivers and passengers first. We thank our drivers for understanding the masking of destination feature. We hope that our passengers will do their part and verify their accounts for safety and proper identity,” Cu said.

“For added protection during wee hours of the night, drivers, however, have an option to see passenger destination,” Cu said.

Grab will also roll out an auto-accept driver-app feature that allocates jobs automatically to drivers, allowing a more seamless experience in continuously accepting passenger requests.  The new feature will be implemented in full starting Friday.

PBA party-list Representative Jericho Nograles thanked Grab for its action, but added that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) had ordered this measure more than two years ago.

"Thank you Brian Cu and Grab Philippines for finally implementing the LTFRB order after more than two and a half years," he said in a message to reporters.

"Sana naman yung refund ng P2-per minute hidden charges ay hindi naman aabot o lalampas ng two and a half years din. Sana naman yung LTFRB should check compliance of their Orders," he added.

Some 500 drivers of the company were sanctioned last week due to complaints of trip cancellations. Riders have complained that more drivers are canceling trips even after accepting the booking.

Grab maintains that the main reason for the difficulty in booking a ride is due to lack of cars, resulting in low supply.

Cu said more drivers will be sanctioned in the coming days. — Jessica Bartolome with a report by Erwin Colcol/VDS/BM, GMA News