An official of the super app Grab Philippines admitted that despite the large volume of cars, there is a shortage of Grab drivers in the country.

“The complaint now is they have 500 cars, but only 300 have drivers. But we can fill that out, which is the help we can give,” according to Ronald Roda, country head of Grab Philippines, in a media interview on Monday.

He said part of the effort to provide more Grab drivers involves seeking special permits from government regulators, particularly the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, which they have been working on.

“We have been trying that for several years, and we were given before for our airport operations in 2022 in three tranches for about 5,000 per tranche. This year, we are not given because they have just released some slots for Grab,” he said.

In an earlier television interview, Roda said the first tranche of 5,000 cars is on the way, and they are expecting potentially another 5,000 for the holidays, to increase supply to meet rising demand.

So far, he said they are approaching the number of cars they had in 2019, which was between 5,000 to 10,000 cars.

Expanding to provinces

Meanwhile, Roda said they will open more operations in the provinces next year, following the launch in 14 cities this year, where some slots from the remaining tranches were allocated.

He noted that Grab is currently present in 120 cities and municipalities in the Philippines.

“The slots were given in Iligan City, General Santos, Bohol, Roxas City, Bataan. There’s a lot more coming up, mainly because the local government units are clamoring for it. In most cities in the Philippines, we always have Grab food, especially during the pandemic. The government has been business-friendly, and that is progressing. All of Mindanao has slots, but in North Luzon, we have none,” Roda explained.

Roda also said they expect a surge in bookings this Christmas season, for Grab car, food, and delivery services.

“Our mobility segment, Grab car, for December usually increases by 20 percent. From the booking standpoint, the demand is expected to increase 45 percent to 50 percent from the second and third week of December. That’s the time when customers are experiencing difficulty booking. But we are addressing that,” he said.

For Grab Food, they are anticipating a surge of 20 percent.

“Despite those numbers, we expect to be a bit more reliable. We have been improving. So, my example earlier was in 2022 just for example, for Grab Car, we served six out of 10 customers coming out of the pandemic. Last year, we were, you know, 80 percent, and this year, we're in the 90 percent, so of course, there will be days where it will be really difficult, but overall, we think better than last year,” according to Roda.