Grab halves commissions for drivers, lowers criteria for weekly payout scheme

GRAB is halving its commission rate for private-hire drivers from Monday till May 4, in light of the latest Covid-19 circuit-breaker measures that are expected to drive down demand for rides even more.

In addition, drivers who rent their cars from Grab's vehicle rental arm will get an additional 50 per cent commission reduction, meaning they will not need to pay any commission to Grab.

Rival Gojek is looking at various ways to better support its drivers amid the heightened distancing measures put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19. The Business Times understands that its moves could potentially include a reduction in service fee.

Grab said on Sunday that it is also lowering the qualifying criteria for Weekly Cover, which gives eligible drivers either S$85 or S$45 per week in income support, depending on the tier a driver is in. The programme is part of Grab's contribution to the S$73 million Special Relief Fund set up by the government to help private-hire and taxi drivers tide through a fall in earnings due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Under the revised criteria, drivers now have to earn 50 "Gems" or more per week under Grab's incentives programme, instead of at least 80 Gems.

Any trip by a driver earns them one Gem; a peak-hour ride earns them an additional Gem. Assuming there are no peak-hour rides, this means a driver will qualify for the weekly payout by completing at least 50 trips in a week.

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The company said on its website that in order to provide drivers with support measures during the circuit-breaker period, incentives for premium services, taking a job with a distant pick-up point, and the "Super Steady" incentives programme will be put on hold. Free weekly cancellations will also be reduced from six to three cancellations per week.

Grab faced driver backlash in February after it announced that the Super Steady incentives scheme would be replaced by the Weekly Cover aid package.

Drivers instantly pointed out that the coronavirus aid package and incentive schemes should be treated separately, prompting Grab to reinstate the incentives scheme until May 2020, after a meeting with the National Private Hire Vehicles Association and representatives from the Land Transport Authority.

As the circuit-breaker measures kick in, the company notified users on Monday that it is suspending its hitch service till May 4 as car-pooling is not considered an essential service. It had earlier suspended GrabShare car-pool services from Feb 9 till further notice, in view of the virus outbreak. (GrabHitch is a social ride-sharing initiative launched by Grab to match journeys between private car drivers and commuters heading the same way at the same time. The fare is between 20 and 40 per cent lower than alternative private transport options.)

On the rental front, Grab said GrabRental drivers will receive a 30-per-cent rental waiver of up to S$20 a day during the circuit-breaker timeframe, and will be offered an option to defer 20 per cent of their rental costs of up to S$14 a day for the next six months until October 2020.

Gojek said its fleet partners will be waiving vehicle rentals by up to 60 per cent, or S$55 daily, for drivers till early May.