Grab Philippines said on Friday it would step up its efforts to help onboard driver -partners and aid them in obtaining their franchises from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in light of the rise in supply.
“We fully support the LTFRB in its decision to strengthen the local ride-hailing sector with the opening of the 100,000 (Transportation Network Vehicle Service) licenses across the country as it ladders up to our joint commitment with the Philippine government in providing 500,000 Filipinos with meaning income opportunities,” Grab Philippines senior director for operations Ronald Roda said in a media briefing.
Roda added, “We are committed to generating new livelihood for our partners but also to help the local economy recover from the pandemic and grow further.”
He underscored that the country’s demand for ride-hailing services is still growing and that the recent addition of TNVS providers will aid in filling serious supply gaps in 2022.
Roda said there is strong demand for the country’s new supply of TNVS because the demand for its transportation services crossed the pre-pandemic threshold in December 2022.
Data from Grab showed that daily bookings in Greater Metro Manila alone surpass the available supply of ride-hailing drivers, refuting assertions by some groups that the demand for TNVS is declining. In December, Grab served less than half of the passenger demand volume.
Meanwhile, GrabCar demand has experienced double-digit monthly growth outside Greater Metro Manila but has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.
“Even at 65,000 available cars in GMM, the fulfillment rate — the percentage of bookings that are fulfilled — never breached 85 percent pre-pandemic, meaning that there was still passenger demand to be fulfilled by the driver-partners,” Roda said. “An oversupply is highly unlikely.”
The pre-pandemic TNVS supply in Greater Metro Manila, which comprises the provinces of Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, and Cavite, was 65,000 driver-partners. Less than 20,000 active Grab drivers and partners may now be seen driving on GMM roadways where Grab is available.
Additional TNVS supply is also required for areas outside of Greater Metro Manila, such as Pampanga, Albay, Camarines Sur, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, and Cebu.
Grab is also extending its services to other cities, particularly in Mindanao, and investing in additional provinces to support the local governments of those areas as they adapt their infrastructure to the digital age.
“The new allocation of TNVS supply is truly a welcome development. Grab has initiated discussions with the local governments of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Iligan to hopefully launch Grab’s super app services in their cities to enable their constituents to enjoy digital services,” Roda said.
“Historically, Grab noted strong contributions to the local economies of the cities where it operates, as it creates a domino effect on growth — from driver -partners, merchant-partners and down to the consumers,” he added.