Grab Philippines is actively exploring a partnership with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to introduce a dedicated “holiday fleet” to manage the anticipated surge in transportation demand during the upcoming festive season.
Grace Vera Cruz, the country manager for Grab Philippines, has revealed the platform’s ongoing collaboration with governmental authorities since July.
The collective goal is to secure temporary Transportation Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) slots or establish a specialized “holiday fleet” to preempt the recurrence of last year’s driver shortage predicament during the holiday season.
In December 2022, Grab reported that only one out of every two passengers managed to successfully secure a GrabCar ride amid the holiday rush.
Vera Cruz expressed optimism that a solution would be reached within the next three to four weeks, ideally before November.
To ensure a seamless customer experience, she highlighted the need for an additional 10,000 to 20,000 TNVS slots.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) had previously allocated 10,200 slots in Metro Manila and 350 slots for Central Luzon. Currently, the industry possesses 40,000 to 50,000 slots.
However, Grab did not disclose specific figures regarding its driver-partners or the industry’s slot utilization rate.
The number of TNVS units has yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels when 65,000 slots were allocated to Transportation Network Companies (TNCs).
In addition to addressing the holiday demand in Metro Manila, Grab plans to expand its GrabCar services in Davao by the second week of October.
While the initial deployment will consist of 250 TNVS slots, Vera Cruz acknowledged that at least 1,500 slots would be required to meet the growing demand in the province.