We are probably familiar with rushing to the pick-up point after booking a Grab ride to avoid the waiting fee.
Previously, passengers could enjoy a five-minute grace period after the driver arrived. But this is set to change from 18 Jul.
Grab Singapore has announced that there will now be shorter waiting times and cancellation periods for rides.
Image courtesy of Grab Singapore
Passengers will soon have a grace period of three minutes before getting charged the waiting fee.
On Monday (11 Jul), Grab Singapore announced the allowance of shorter waiting periods for passengers.
From 18 Jul, the grace waiting and cancellation period for rides will be three minutes instead of the previous five minutes.
The shorter waiting time will apply to all rides except for GrabExec, GrabExec, GrabExec 6, GrabAssist, and GrabAssist Plus.
The waiting fee is S$3 per five-minute block, S$5 for GrabPremium and S$10 per 10-minute block for GrabCoach.
Here is a table of the grace waiting times and corresponding fees for each service by Grab Singapore:
Source: Grab Singapore
Grab has thus encouraged passengers to book rides only if they are confident they can reach the pick-up point in time.
According to Grab, the policy change will also increase the availability of more rides for passengers.
Passengers may have to reach their ride more promptly than before, but the company explained that this would allow an increase in rides overall.
“Less waiting time will mean more rides to go around,” Grab said in their press release.
A Grab spokesperson added that the decision was timely as 94% of rides already see passengers at their pick-up points within three minutes of their drivers’ arrival.
“As the country re-opens and more passengers book rides, we want to help our driver-partners capture these new demand trends by spending their time on the roads more productively.
“It will also help reduce fuel wastage caused by idling engines, which has become more of a pain point for our driver-partners with the rising cost of fuel,” they said.
To complement this change, Grab will be refining controls on the backend so drivers can only indicate in the system that they have arrived when they are at the pick-up point or close to it.
While it may not seem so, the shorter grace periods for passengers are a necessary move from Grab to boost the availability of rides for everyone.
This is especially since many have been experiencing long waiting times or having no rides assigned to them.
Hopefully, after 18 Jul, those in need of a ride will receive one faster than before, which is necessary during the peak hour crunch.
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Featured image adapted from Roya News for illustration purposes and Grab.
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