HIGH passenger demand, heavy traffic and a shortage of drivers are pushing e-hailing fares up, Grab Drivers Malaysia Association (GDMA) said. 

GDMA president Arif Asyraf Ali said fares are not controlled because of the dynamic fare structure and open market system.

“So, basically when demand is more and supply is low, fares would at times shoot up to more than three-times the normal rate. 

“The other major factor is the shortage of drivers. With the economy slowly recovering, many drivers have moved on after the easing of restrictions for better jobs or have returned to their previous professions,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

Arif estimated the shortage of drivers to be about nearly 30%. 

“The range of active drivers used to be about 70,000 to 80,000. Now, we have about 50,000 to 60,000.  

“Before the pandemic we had about 120,000 drivers – part-time and full-time.”

The number of new drivers is only slightly above 100 each month, he added. 

Passengers have been complaining about current e-hailing fares, saying the price surge has been up to 400% in some cases during peak hours.

The Malaysian Insight previously reported a Grab driver saying that the e-hailing firm jacked up fares during peak hours to entice more drivers to work during this period.

Meanwhile, Grab Malaysia has said it has not made any changes to its fare structure as they adopt a “dynamic pricing model”. This is to ensure passengers get a ride and the driver-partners are also compensated fairly for their time and effort.

“When there are more people booking a ride than the number of drivers available in an area, fares will ‘surge’ or go up to encourage more drivers to head to where passengers are. 

“The price fluctuations our users are seeing is a result of fewer drivers on the road to accept a sharp increase in ride demand from our passengers,” Grab said in a statement. 

Grab said as of mid-May, the number of driver-partners on its platform is still less than 70% of what it was pre-pandemic.

Drivers say not worth it  

Arif said Grab had more drivers previously because the earnings were good, with better incentives.  

The higher fares during peak traffic hours now are not an attractive incentive. 

“The traffic jam is massive, even in the afternoon, and it is getting worse each day.”

Some drivers will even turn off the app during peak traffic hours despite higher fares, he added.

“For example, a normal ride can cost from RM20 to RM40 during peak hours. Even though it is higher you can get caught in the jam for more than a hour. 

“The bad traffic pushes them not to drive. We can see about 30% to 40% doing this.

“Because there are fewer drivers, the active ones have to drive further to pick up passengers, using more fuel and getting stuck in traffic.” 

Drivers are also finding the cost of car maintenance going up as another disincentive to stay on in the e-hailing sector. 

“How are they to maintain the car with the low commissions and high maintenance? 

“So even though the fare is high, the drivers are not happy with their commission. These are some of the things that demotivate them.  

“We have been asking the government to regulate the fare since 2017,” Arif said.

Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said recently the government does not regulate the base fare for e-hailing rides, while the surcharge cannot be more than two times the base fare. – June 6, 2022.