Grab drivers turning off their app during high traffic periods, causing further shortage of e-hailing services

Grab drivers turning off their app during high traffic periods, causing further shortage of e-hailing services

The increased traffic in the Klang Valley isn’t just causing motorists woes, it’s also having an impact on those using public transport, notably ride-hailing services. The lack of drivers and significantly increased demand have pushed ride prices up, but it seems a large number of drivers aren’t being tempted to drive despite the ability to earn higher fares.

Many Grab drivers have been turning off their ride-hailing app because of the traffic congestion, deeming the incentives not worth the effort of being stuck in traffic, The Malay Mail reports. The report cites a response from Grab Drivers Malaysia Association (GDMA) president Arif Asyraf Ali over the issue, originally reported by The Malaysian Insight (TMI).

Speaking to TMI, he said that 30% to 40% of its drivers will choose not to respond to ride requests during certain hours of the day, as doing so could mean getting caught in traffic jams lasting more than an hour. “The traffic jam is massive, even in the afternoon, and it is getting worse each day,” he explained.

In recent weeks, public transport users in the Klang Valley as well as Penang have been complaining about the difficulty in obtaining ride-hailing rides or being charged exorbitant rates for these. The TMI report cited heavy traffic as one of the factors pushing the price of fares up, amplifying things further.

“Because there are fewer drivers, the active ones have to drive further to pick up passengers, using more fuel and getting stuck in traffic,” Arif told TMI. He added that the shortage of drivers was at around 30%, as the number of active drivers has dropped from around 70,000 to 80,000 to about 50,000 to 60,000.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • Dong Gor on Jun 07, 2022 at 10:36 am

    Desperate times require desperate measure…it’s time to Gojek

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 8
    • Kapchai on Jun 07, 2022 at 10:42 am

      Maybe an expired idea.
      Now minimum salary RM1500, easy to buy a Motorcycle.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
    • Civic Turbo 2018 on Jun 07, 2022 at 11:13 am

      Nothing wrong for drivers to go OFFLINE. Anyway they are self-employed with NO fixed working hours

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 28 Thumb down 1
    • Lets See on Jun 07, 2022 at 11:14 am

      inb4 PH troopers blame WKS/Gomen/BN/Umno for not forcing slave driven drivers to be available during peak periods.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 7
  • Problems on Jun 07, 2022 at 10:39 am

    If you have a meeting at 8am, 45 minutes away from your house, will you out at 7.15am or 6.45am ?

    Just plan well, don’t always complain about traffic jam.

    Don’t just sit there and wait authorities give solutions, you have been living in Malaysia for so long and doesn’t know their speed of work ?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 32 Thumb down 37
    • nine feudal club on Jun 07, 2022 at 11:02 am

      we are delighted to have a bunch of third world mentality species remain loyal and faithful. Keep up the good work.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 0
    • Eat My Smoke on Jun 07, 2022 at 11:14 am

      Now 65% more RON97 users switching to RON95 will burden gomen even more subsidy(every liter >RM1.70 in early April). Literally gomen is paying more for every litre we buy RON95 now

      So to resolve traffic jams and promote public transport usage, gomen please market-float RON95 @RM4.50

      Once fuel subsidy is removed, whatever foreign vehicles pump also OK. Anyway our EURO4 fuel is cheaper than EURO6 in SG

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 6
    • Later on sleep at office?? on Jun 07, 2022 at 1:46 pm

      Sry, can’t agree on ur comment. Let say now u leave 1hr early to ur destination, 5 yrs later u leave 2hrs early, 10 yrs later u leave 3hrs early.. so later on u sleep at office?? We pay taxes for them to do something for the betterment of the ppl, not we tolerate problems tht affect us due to their inaction. Btw, do u pay tax?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 24 Thumb down 4
    • dong gor on Jun 07, 2022 at 2:09 pm

      Bang, this topic talking about Grab drivers not want to pick up service during rush hours la…no matter how you plan your meeting, rush hour is still rush hour and it’s just how ‘normal distribution curve’ works.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 5
      • Right? on Jun 07, 2022 at 10:44 pm

        Limit 2 childrens per family especially among B40. Or mayb sterilize incompetent/non-productive people.

        Quality over quantity.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2
    • Government is voted to help us solve problems. Pls keep your slave mindset for yourself!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • Haters gonna hate on Jun 07, 2022 at 10:40 am

    Live in the city and cannot accept traffic jam. Go stay kampung, solve all your issues

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 22 Thumb down 23
    • Commonsense no longer common on Jun 08, 2022 at 10:06 am

      Sorry I cannot accept your nonsense comment. People like you will always be a keyboard warrior without any commonsense.

      Who says living in a city equals to accepting traffic jams? Only a nut head would give such comment.
      It is always the government job to find solutions to the city traffic problems. For instance, we already have a good train system as public transport but the government neglected the first and last mile ride. This causes the people to drive their own vehicle instead. Driving to the train station, finding parking and etc, all of those takes time. Must as well they drive directly to their destination straight. So, if its the government that is being incompetent when it comes to town planning then why must we go through bad traffic on a daily basis just because we live in the city? and at the same time still pay tax?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • 1. Adjust the public transport rate
    1. 6am – 7am – Free
    2. 7am – 8am – 50%.
    3. 4.30pm – 5.30pm – Free
    4. 5.30pm – 6.30pm – 50%.
    Sufficiently covering ppl working 8-5/9-6.
    This will help the sales of Transit Oriented Condo too.
    Reviving property market.

    2. Make a demarcated lane for Motorcycle/Bicycle everywhere,
    Promoting safe use of Bike, with speed limit.
    It will also help us to achieve the Sustainable Goal – Green future,
    When the EV scoot era comes.

    3. Complete the Cyberjaya Autonomous Trackless Trams asap.
    https://paultan.org/2021/09/06/autonomous-trackless-trams-for-up-to-307-passengers-to-commence-testing-in-cyberjaya-from-january/

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 22 Thumb down 3
    • 4G63T DSM on Jun 07, 2022 at 10:56 am

      But our smart ministers do the opposite. Free tol days and funnel ALL traffic into specific days causing massive jams. Hahahaha.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 4
      • Free tolls during specific days has no correlation to daily traffic jams. Stop being stupid here.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
    • Eat My Smoke on Jun 07, 2022 at 11:18 am

      Problem is cheap fuel. Subsidy gotta remove to promote public transport, reducing traffic effectively and help gomen save money

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 5
    • you think Gov will foot the bill from Prasarana for free ah? If they do this gov sure will implement congestion charge. Say bye bye to driving to work.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • Need to limit cars plz! on Jun 07, 2022 at 1:37 pm

      Thumbs up on your idea. And i want to add somemore:
      1. for short term measures, enforce odd-even last number restriction to KLANG VALLEY, eg mon-wed-fri odd number, tues-thurs-sat even no. private cars to enter during 7am-7pm

      2. Discourage ppl to buy cars such as increase roadtax for ppl with several cars. ie. 1st car 100% roadtax, 2nd car 150%, 3rd car 200%, 4th car 300%.

      3. Enforce scrap cars policy for more than 20yrs old vehicle.

      4. Reintroduce mini bus as last mile transport ie from lrt station to residence area.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 2
  • These 2 years, Many graduated and comes to Selangor and KL working, work starts after Covid19.
    but finally – culture shocked.

    Authentic Selangor and KL ppl already get used to it – 1990s jam, 2000 jam, 2010 jam, 2020 jam. That’s why our public transport, slowing growing. More and more occupants too.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
  • Ben Yap on Jun 07, 2022 at 11:26 am

    super jam period will result in the driver arriving late. there is a high potential for these drivers to get a bad rating. so it is better to switch it off.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 0
  • maizi on Jun 07, 2022 at 2:42 pm

    This is the same reason given by the taxi driver – cheap fare . Grab convince everyone they are different . With no equal competitor (like Uber) , Grab will eventually become the taxi services we loathe . Well done Grab!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 3
    • FrozenFire on Jun 08, 2022 at 2:24 pm

      This is why monopoly is horrible idea. Only in MALAYsia can this happen

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 3
      • Frozen on Jun 09, 2022 at 8:29 am

        Grab is also the only available large car hailing service in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and other Asean countries. Why? Simply becus UBER step out of our market. Is this aSEAn fault?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Anonymous on Jun 07, 2022 at 3:07 pm

    Another view would be to also review on Grab’s profit margin from the drivers too? From what I heard they are taking 30% commission from the drivers. Minus petrol,, car maintenance, car loan, licenses, socso and insurance. It is no longer a profit making business to be a Grab driver. There should be some form of capping in the profit margin, or some form of benefit to them.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
    • call me by your name on Jun 07, 2022 at 9:18 pm

      they’ve long capped to 20% by the government

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • theRakyat on Jun 08, 2022 at 8:08 am

    buy more cars lah..its cheap, everyone can afford it now..down payment rm0..fuel also cheap..goyang apa? bercukurlah murlesia amang

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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