Grab and go:
How much did you use Grab this year?
Manila is a bustling capital home to over 12 million people, all sharing an area slightly bigger than Birmingham (where the population is just 1.1 million). Government figures show over 2 million vehicles are registered in the capital, and hundreds of thousands of them move through the city’s streets every hour.
This means traffic is a daily problem in the city, and commuting a challenge. Social media is full of tales of woe from commuters stuck in traffic for hours on end, or left standing in a long queue waiting for their ride home.
The arrival of ride-sharing services provided commuters with some form of respite by offering comfort and style while travelling. This has proven popular with Filipinos, who flocked to these services despite the premium price tag.
The Philippines had two dominant ride-sharing services: US-based Uber and Singapore-based Grab, until March 2018, when Grab, which started life as a taxi-hailing app, bought Uber’s Southeast Asian operations. In Manila, the Philippine Competition Commission estimates Grab corners 93 percent—a virtual monopoly—of the ride-sharing market.
But how do commuters use the service? In the last days of 2018, Grab launched https://hub.grab.com, which gave users insights into their usage. We asked for volunteers: three came forward and sent in their Grab ride data for analysis, with their consent. Grab was also asked to comment on this article, but has not yet responded to the requests.
A safer alternative
Teodorico Marquez Jr., a senior research specialist at the government’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau, believes that ride-sharing services are safer compared to traditional ways of commuting like the busses and the iconic jeepney, where stories of passenger theft are rife.
“There have also been stories of people riding in taxis and getting robbed. I’m scared of that happening to me. Also, because of the traffic and so many infrastructure projects worsening it, I choose Grab for convenience even at the expense of higher fares,” Marquez, 33, said.
He did not use the service every day, though: he only made 128 trips totalling 817 kilometres for 2018. Most of them were from or to his house in the suburb of Project 6 in Quezon City, to destinations under two kilometres from home: the sprawling SM North Edsa mall, and his workplace at the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
Despite his preference for Grab, Marquez said he was still stunned when he learned of his total bill: P23,431 (£352.01). “I was really shocked. I could have spent that amount as down payment for a new car,” he said.
Explore the full interactive story of Teodorico's 2018 Grab history above or on Tableau (opens in new window).
Ease and convenience
Like Marquez, Cristina Mallari, a 28-year-old occupational therapist from Pasig City, appreciates the convenience and safety she gets from ride-sharing.
But unlike Marquez, who used it only for commuting, she also used Grab’s food delivery and courier services, as well as its newest offering: GrabAssistant, which allows users to hire someone to do chores like buy groceries, and have it delivered to their place.
All told, she made 121 Grab bookings in 2018, nearly 70 percent of which was for transport. She spent P24,305 (£365.14) on the service, including one food delivery trip worth P804 (£12.08). Drivers for the company clocked 657 kilometres for her bookings.
Explore the full interactive story of Cristina's 2018 Grab history above or on Tableau (opens in new window).
Part of work expenses
However, Marquez and Mallari’s expenses pale in comparison with the P82,058 (£1,232.76) that journalist Julie Aurelio spent on the service in 2018.
“I always book a Grab in the mornings going to work,” said Aurelio, who has to travel 15 kilometres from her home in Quezon City to Malacañang Palace in Manila, where she covers the president for a national newspaper. “[Grab] is the most convenient way for me to go around Metro Manila, even though it can be expensive and sometimes hard to find a ride.”
In all, she made 387 trips through Grab—more than one for every day of the year. She travelled a whopping 3,674 kilometres, which is slightly more than the distance needed to fly from Manila to Kolkata in India.
When she saw her spending, Aurelio said she was “surprised but hardly disturbed. Transportation always ate a big chunk of my expenses anyway, and these were also part of my work.”
Explore the full interactive story of Julie's 2018 Grab history above or in Tableau (opens in new window).
New year, new habits?
For these people, ride-sharing is as much a transport option as it is a way of life. But with how much they spent, will they be changing their habits in 2019?
“I have no regrets in spending that amount with Grab as my rides were convenient, safe and saved time. Having said that, I will try to limit my Grab rides next year,” Marquez said.
Meanwhile, Aurelio, who used and preferred Uber before she was forced to switch to Grab after the buyout, said: “it is worth it to use a reliable ride-sharing platform like Uber. But ever since Grab became the major player, I used it because there was no other choice. Between Uber and Grab, I'd still choose Uber.”#####