Newbie TNC claims Grab trying to pirate its drivers

Newcomer transport network company (TNC) Micab has accused ride-hailing giant Grab of initiating “phantom” bookings in a bid to pirate its drivers.

In an opinion piece published on tech website e27.co on July 18, Micab founder and chief executive officer Eddie Ybañez described Grab’s alleged modus operandi: “After booking one of our cabs, then waiting as usual before canceling, our drivers will receive a call a few minutes later inviting them to a driver’s orientation [for] Grab.”

Ybañez said he could not dismiss the incidents as mere coincidence as these happened “several thousand times.”

Sequential prepaid numbers

“The prepaid numbers that call our drivers are also sequential, suggesting that they were purchased by a single entity at one time,” he added.

Ybañez, however, said the piece was not written to shame Grab but “as a call to everyone in the ride-hailing space across Southeast Asia.”

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board accredited Micab as the fifth TNC on April 30. It has 6,000 drivers who operate in Metro Manila, Baguio City and Cebu.

According to Ybañez, “Grab’s tactics may be somewhat understandable if they were the scrappy upstart, but they’re not.”

The Inquirer tried but failed to reach Grab for comment. —WITH A REPORT BY ROSELIE MARI VILLAFLOR