Grab Philippines urges review of cashless payment policy

MANILA, Philippines — While backing moves to make transactions cashless amid the pandemic, Grab Philippines country manager Brian Cu said Wednesday that the policy needs to be reviewed as the public must be given time to transition since many still do not have access to such mode of payment.

During the online hearing of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, Cu noted that many of their passengers do not have access to cashless payment methods.

Due to this, there are reports of drivers posting their trips on social media and accepting passengers off-platform.

“Mahirap kung ganito ang nangyayari dahil hindi natin masisigurado na makaka-contact trace tayo at hindi natin masisigurado na magiging cashless ang transaction nila,” Cu said.

(It is difficult if these things are happening because we cannot assure that we can do contact tracing and we cannot assure that transactions are indeed cashless.)

“Maybe we need to just review the policy of cashless and give it some time to transition. Nakikipag-ugnayan naman kami sa LTFRB para magawan ito ng paraan para mas marami pa sa ating kababayan ang makakagamit ng ganitong klaseng serbisyo,” he added.

(We are coordinating with the LTFRB to address this and so that more of our countrymen would be able to use this kind of service.)

Cu, nevertheless, maintained support to the government’s cashless payment policy, agreeing that it will help prevent the virus from spreading.

Cu also reported that demand has been increasing since Grab resumed its operations following Metro Manila’s shift to general community quarantine (GCQ).

He said that as of last week, around 60,000 people a day have been booking trips with Grab. Of this number, Cu said 80 percent have been serviced by his company.

“So far, ang sinusunod namin ay ‘yung approved list ng LTFRB na may 18,000 vehicles. So only among those 18,000 vehicles ang ina-approve namin na makapagbiyahe sa platform ng Grab,“ Cu said.

(So far, we are following the approved list of the LTFRB which is 18,000 vehicles so we are only approving drivers among those 18,000 vehicles.)

“Ine-ensure naman namin na may safety standards katulad ng safety barrier at pati distribution and disinfection kits na ibibigay sa ating mga drivers,” he added.

(We are ensuring that there are safety standards in place such as safety barrier as well as the distribution of disinfections kits for our drivers.)

Cu added that Grab has been compliant with the fare matrix of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and that it has lowered its surge pricing from 2x cap to 1.5x.