With Carmegeddon well on schedule, the question on everyone’s mind is whether or not Grab is screwed.

Okay, maybe it’s not on everyones mind but it’s on my mind. So lets try and figure this out, shall we?

Let’s rewind to about a year and a half ago. Grab was pretty much on the moon. Fresh from their acquisition of Uber, they had finally monopolized the e-hailing market in Malaysia. Sadly, the good vibes from that were short lived.

In July 2018, the Ministry of Transport announced the need for the e-hailing industry to be regulated. Eventually, drivers were given a mere 3 months to obtain their Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licenses. Needless to say, Grab was in a bit of a pickle. 

It was always going to be an uphill task. It just didn’t make sense for drivers to go through the hassle of applying for a PSV license. Okay maybe for the drivers who drive full time- sure, but for the part time drivers who represent a large portion of Grabs fleet? Fat chance.

Driving for Grab was supposed to be a no frills thing. In order to qualify for a PSV license, you would have to sit through a 6 hour seminar followed by an hour long written exam— hahahahaha no thank you. Why would anyone want to resit for their driving test? At an average cost of RM220, it’s not cheap either. That’s not including the cost of insurance (RM400-800), the medical examination (RM40-100) and all the other checks.

Of course, Grab had prepared for this. After looking at ways in which they could help, they came up with Pakej Pikul Bersama, complete with the hashtag #beratsamadipikul & #noonegetsleftbehind— Not bad, really.

What it basically does is covers 70% of the cost, and they’ve even made a deal with the MoT to run e-PSV training to expedite the application process. Yes, that’s right. It turns out, the government could’ve came up with an online training module all along, they just waited for the e-hailing companies to do all the work! That being said, the e-psv training is only valid till the 12th of July, so anyone who applies after will have to do it the old school way. 

In spite of all these measures, it would seem that Grab has conceded defeat. In a statement sent out by the company, they encourage riders to pre-plan their travel post 12 July as getting a ride will probably take longer than usual. 

In the statement, it states that as of the 8th of July, 4 days away from the deadline, only 10% of their active driver-partners have successfully obtained their PSV licence. Did the rest just.. Fail? Well, no. The Transport Ministry recently revealed that only 16,338 out of an approximate 167,000 e-hailing drivers in Malaysia have actually registered for the PSV exam. 

It also turns out that Grab’s 70% subsidy only applies if you pass the exam. Driver-partners will need to answer 80% of the questions correctly to pass. I mean, I don’t know how difficult the exam is but I don’t like those odds.

Ok cool but is this the end of the road for Grab or not?

According to Grab, each day, they serve 1 million ride bookings. On average, a passenger can get his or her ride within 6 minutes. This was with 100% of their fleet mind you. With a mere 10% of their drivers at their disposal, it would seem that you’re better off taking a taxi. Factor in the predicted increase in fares and you have even more reason to reinstall that Myteksi app you deleted ages ago.

To answer your (my) question, while it would seem that Grab is screwed. It’s not the end of the road. If anything, it’s merely the end of a gold paved road. Grab is pretty much a lifestyle app now and while their ride hailing service may suffer immensely, industry observers predict the number of drivers will pick up by the end of the year. Will it ever be the same though? Probably not. But hey, less drivers mean more incentives for them to drive. It looks like i’ll finally hear the end of my Grab drivers complaining about how little they earn— but only because I’ll be riding in a taxi.

What should You do?

Really, take a taxi. Grab has come out and advised you to book your rides earlier than usual and to avoid peak hours but if anything, it’s a more level playing field for taxi drivers now and after all the fuss they made about the gig economy, this is pretty much as close as they’ll get to their goal of abolishing Grab.

Taxi companies should grab (ha ha) this opportunity to make themselves competitive as there’s not going to be a better time to showcase that song they’ve been singing for the longes time- That taxi’s are just as good as Grab.