Grab is aware of how frustrating unreasonable cancellations are.

For drivers, this behavior includes forcing passengers to cancel the booking without proper reason, and being selective of passenger destination (these waste passengers’ time).

For passengers, this includes excessive cancellations – two times per hour, three instances a day, and or a total of 5 cancels per week. Passenger cancellations after 5 minutes upon booking confirmation and no-shows are also major worries for drivers. These waste drivers’ time and effort to get to the pick-up point.

To discourage unreasonable cancellations by both drivers and passengers, Grab has put in place some initiatives and policies:

For drivers:

  1. Completion rate. Drivers are penalized if they go below the required completion rate. Completion rate is computed based on completed bookings, cancellation rates and ignored jobs. Completion rate also heavily affects incentives.
  2. Driver Timeout. If a driver excessively ignores or cancels booking requests, they are locked out of the platform for a temporary period of time.
  3. Ratings and Complaints Analysis. Drivers with passenger complaints and low star ratings are also flagged. Grab gives out warnings, and suspends or eventually bans drivers over repeat offenses.
  4. 5-Star Driver Tipping Feature. For drivers who go above and beyond, a new tipping feature allowing passengers to reward the drivers with 5-star rating has been rolled out.

For passengers:

  1. 30 GrabRewards Points – When a driver cancels on a ride, the passenger automatically gets 30 GrabRewards points, which he or she can use to redeem items or vouchers in the GrabRewards catalog.
  2. Passenger Timeout – After excessive cancellations, the passenger’s account will temporarily be suspended for 24 hours.
  3. Cancellation Fees – Php 50 fee will apply to passengers who cancel the ride after 5 minutes of getting assigned a driver.
  4. No-show Fees – Php 50 fee will apply if a passenger doesn’t show up at the pick-up point within 5 minutes for GrabCar and 3 minutes for GrabShare upon the driver’s arrival.

The cancellation fee incurred in the above situations will go directly to the driver, to compensate them for fuel and effort they have already spent travelling to the passenger.

To protect passengers, Grab has put in place a system so that fees are not charged in the following situations:

  1. No fee if passenger cancels within 5 minutes of getting assigned a driver.
  2. No fee if the driver isn’t moving towards the pick-up point (or going the wrong direction)
  3. No fee if the driver takes 15 minutes longer than the first estimated time of arrival (for example, if the passenger gets a driver who is 3 minutes away, but he or she has waited more than 18 minutes for the driver to arrive, the cancellation is free)
  4. No fee if the driver indicates that he has arrived when he or she has not
  5. In addition, Grab promises to refund any fees that were charged wrongly within 48 hours, when reported via their in-app Help Centre.

Grab has notified the Land Transportation and Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) about it’s new cancellation policy.

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