Grab To Expand In Provinces As Demand Rises

Grab Philippines has allotted about 35% of its new transport network vehicles (TNVS) slots to partner drivers in the provinces to address the growing demand for ride-hailing services.

Grab said about 35,000 out of the 100,000 TNVS licenses would go to the provinces that required additional TNVS supply, including Pampanga, Albay, Camarines Sur, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, and Cebu.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTRFRB) Chair, Teofilo Guadiana III, said the board recently approved an additional 100,000 TNVS licenses to match the “needs of the riding public.”

“For the provinces, an estimate of 35,000 TNVS licenses takes into consideration forecasts based on population size…as well as the activity levels of the current driver pool in December 2022,” Grab Philippines senior director of operations Rolad Roda said.

The other 65,000 slots would go to the Greater Metro Manila (GMM) area, including the Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, and Cavite provinces.

“Event at 65,000 available cars in GMM, the fulfillment rate – the percentage of bookings that are fulfilled – never breached 85% pre-pandemic, meaning that there was still passenger demand to be fulfilled by the driver-partners,” Roda said.

The super app operator also plans to expand in Mindanao cities to accelerate digital transformation initiatives.

“The fresh allocation of TNVS supply is truly a welcome development. Grab has initiated discussions with the local governments of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Iligan to hopefully launch Grab’s super app services in their cities to enable their constituents to enjoy digital services,” Roda added.

“Historically, Grab noted strong contributions to the local economies of the cities where it operates, as it creates a domino effect on growth – from driver-partners, merchant-partners, and down to the customers,” he said.

Source: Inquirer.net