Grab cites need to review cashless payment methods amid COVID-19 situation

Grab Philippines country manager Brian Cu on Wednesday stressed the need for a review of the cashless mode of payment for their platform while the COVID-19 crisis is ongoing, considering that many Filipinos still do not have cashless payment options.

During the virtual meeting of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, which was conducted to hear the concerns of the public transportation sector, Cu admitted that they are having issues with cashless transactions for their platform.

"Sang-ayon naman kami dito sa cashless mandate ng LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] dahil talagang makakatulong ito sa pagpapatigil ng spread ng virus. However, marami sa ating mga mananakay ay wala pang cashless method of payments," he said.

Currently, Grab Car only accepts cashless payment methods using credit/debit cards or through GrabPay.

According to Cu, they have seen reports that some of their partner-drivers only post their trips on Facebook and accept passengers off-platform.

This, however, is disadvantageous as Grab will not be able to identify their passengers for contact tracing and ensure if indeed a cashless transaction was made, he said.

"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," Cu said.

Cu said they are fully supportive of the policies implemented by the national government and LTFRB to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus among public transportation.

He reported that the demand for Grab car service has been increasing since they were allowed to operate almost three weeks ago, with an average of 60,000 bookings per day.

At the same time, he said that Grab remains compliant with the LTFRB fare matrix, and even brought down its surge pricing from the allowed 2x cap to 1.5x.

"We are constantly monitoring naman kung may mga prices na nag-aabove, which shouldn't happen, and naa-address naman namin yun," Cu said. — BM, GMA News