Internet firm Grab is accelerating further into the ride-hailing, food, and logistics service space in Southeast Asia as it cruised its way to the 3-billion passenger mark on January 20, 2019 and introduced eight new app features.
The mobile platform achieved this feat six months after recording 2 billion rides. At exactly 9:34:32 PM Manila time that day, 61 Grab trips were ongoing in 21 cities across six Southeast Asian countries, enabing the platform to reach the 3-billion mark.
Grab is gathering even greater speed for 2019 with the launch of its first campaign for the year billed as ?Better Everyday?.
Unveiled on January 30 at the Makati Shangri-la Manila Hotel, “Better Everyday” introduces a range of new features designed to improve the experience of the riding public and of Grab drivers as well.
For its ride-hailing customers, these are the following:
- Cancel Anytime — This feature allows passengers to cancel bookings before a driver is assigned
- Saved Places — This enables passengers to save their most frequented places and preferred pickup and drop-off points – home, workplace, gym, and others. Once saved, these sites will serve as options for faster, more convenient bookings
- Rewards Points — These are rewarded to passengers whose trips were cancelled by Grab drivers. The passenger is awarded 30 GrabRewards points credited within 24 hours. These points may be used to redeem loyalty items such as food, discounts, and services.
- Change Destination — In the middle of the trip, an emergency may occur or plans may change. Worse, an erroneous location setting may have been recorded. This feature is perfect for these situations, allowing passengers to change their drop-off points while in transit so as to avoid having to deal with the driver about the problem or book a new ride altogether
- Lost and Found — This feature is available to help passengers who left items in the car to get in touch with the drivers and get their lost items back.
- Passenger Time-out — With this feature, passengers who exceed limits of booking cancellations will be temporarily banned for a maximum of 23 hours.
For GrabExpress, these are the new features:
- Multi-stop Delivery Feature — This makes deliveries to five recipients in different locations using only one rider possible
- Multiple Concurrent Bookings — Micro-entrepreneurs and social sellers will find this helpful as it allows them to send up to 10 parcels using different delivery partners at the same time
The platform’s winning run continues with the launch of GrabFood in Cebu on January 17 and the addition of more than 100 branches of its merchants like Bonchon, Tori Chizu, and Go Bento.
“As an everyday app, we continue to use our technology to provide solutions that will improve the daily experience of our fellow Filipinos. Our goal is to serve our consumers better everyday with the challenge to always go above and beyond what is expected,” said Grab Philippines president Brian Cu.
