Cancellation fees not meant to punish riders, says Grab

Grab Philippines stressed on Tuesday that the plan to implement cancellation charges was not meant to punish passengers.

Leo Gonzales, Grab PH Public Affairs Head, said that the plan to fine passengers when they cancel would be a balancing act for both the drivers and the riding public.

“Para balanced lang talaga, benefit ng driver and passenger. After all of this, kung lahat mag-comply at maging mas maayos ang best practices natin, it will benefit everyone,” he said in a chance interview.

Gonzales also clarified that when the company raised the issue, the plan was still not final.

“The cancellation fee, while we brought it up and mentioned it to the board, it’s not yet a final decision,” Gonzales said.

Grab had earlier expressed its desire to adopt Uber’s cancellation charge system to compensate for the driver’s effort to pick up a passenger.

READ: Grab passengers face fine

However, when asked on how much Grab Philippines would charge its passengers for canceling, Gonzales said: “Definitely, it will not be more than what Uber was applying. Maybe P100…not more than that.”

Previous figures showed that Grab drivers cancel bookings 8 percent of the time, compared to the 12 percent of bookings canceled by the riders.

Grab currently does not penalize its riders for cancellations of bookings monetarily, but passengers who cancel past the waiting period on the application are served later than other riders. Daphnie Beltran, INQUIRER.net intern/je