KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 1): Grab Malaysia has seen a decline in new driver sign-up on the e-hailing platform as a result of the new regulations announced by the Ministry of Transport, according to its country head Sean Goh.
The new regulations, announced by Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook last month, requires e-hailing services to be subjected to the same rules as taxis, especially for license registration, vehicle inspection and operational requirements.
Goh said that in times of uncertainty such as this, the platform has to suffer from a bit of slowdown in terms of interest.
"The challenge we are seeing is that drivers, especially the part time drivers, are now discouraged from signing up. We are hoping to actually alleviate that situation by ensuring people that the changes are going to be gradual and we are going to guide them through the changes," he told reporters after meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons today.
Goh highlighted that more than 80% of its drivers are working part time, earning a supplementary income from Grab. For this reason, a number of Grab drivers are more susceptible to regulatory changes.
"So our focus is really to make sure that it will be as easy and as cheap as possible for our drivers to sign up. For insurance, we want to make sure we have a few options available and then we will recommend the best option to our drivers based on their driving pattern," he said.
When asked about the number of Grab vehicles that will be required for inspection, Goh admitted that it is substantial but did not elaborate on the exact figure.
"It is a substantial number of our vehicles that are above three years [old which requires them to be inspected]. That is why it is very important for us to make sure that when there is an inspection policy, we make sure that it is as smooth as possible," he said.
"One thing we are grateful for is we have been given that grace period of one year to really make sure that everything is in place so we don't disrupt people's livelihood too much," Goh added.