Grab and other e-hailing services may go up in price soon

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Drivers for e-hailing services such as the ever popular Grab has been instructed to register for their Public Service Vehicle (PSV) license starting last April. As the deadline of July 12 looms ahead, we riders may be seeing a jump in price and waiting time for the popular service as the fee for the PSV license is steep.

Malaysia E-hailing Drivers Association (MeHDA) predicted a 50% increase in fares. We will be seeing a lot less e-hailing service drivers on the road as many part-timers are quitting entirely and many other vehicles are not PSV read as the deadline kicks in. The lower number of drivers on the road will result in an added surcharge to meet the supply and demand. Not only that, we may also be seeing a longer waiting time than before. 

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If you’re a regular e-hailing service user, you may have seen times where prices surge up in peak hours due to not enough drivers being around to pick up passengers. The surcharge can go up by 100% maximum depending on the time of day. Soon, we may be seeing this surcharge almost always on. The highers fares may result in less passengers but it is still worth hoping that companies keep the increment low as to not deter passengers from using the service.

As of right now, Land and Public Transport Agency (APAD) has mentioned that there are about 167000 e-hailing drivers in Malaysia. However, only 16338 drivers had signed up for the PSV test. 62% (10151) drivers had qualified for the license before the deadline. While things look pretty bad for both passengers and drivers right now, the situation is expected to look up by the end of the year as more drivers qualify for their PSV licenses after the deadline. It is expected that 70% of the total drivers in Malaysia should be PSV ready by then.

For now, e-hailing service companies may just absorb the price difference till the situation betters if they want to keep their customers. Honestly, the situation looks like a lose-lose for both riders and passengers. Unless new policies are implemented as well as incentives to keep the drivers on board, the situation may likely not improve. What do you think? Keep up with the latest tech news and beyond on TechNave.com!