Pertubuhan Ikatan Usahawan Kecil & Sederhana Malaysia (Ikhlas) today took ride-hailing provider Grab to task over a new ruling, which they claimed affected the drivers' livelihoods.
Ikhlas president Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah told a press conference today that new policy, which sees RM1 deducted from the drivers' earnings as penalty for rejecting job requests, was hurting the rice bowls of Grab drivers who were members of the association.
“The drivers have to pay for their car, for their errands, suddenly deduct so much, how are we going to live?
“This is hurting our rice bowl,” he said at a restaurant in Bangsar early today.
Ridzuan claimed the new policy had cost a single driver a loss of RM1,112.90 in just ten days - of which he produced a screenshot of a correspondence between the said driver and Grab, as evidence, during the press conference.
Grab allows drivers to cancel or ignore up to 3 ride requests per day, after which RM1 will be charged for each cancellation or job ignored.
A statement put up on the Grab website reads : "We noticed that a group of Grabbers who simply ignore/cancel jobs have resulted in other Grabbers like yourself getting jobs further away. Thus, we are implementing an Acceptance Bonus & Ignore/Cancel Fee to selected Grabbers on the Grab Flexi Programme to maximise your earnings."
The policy came to force from Jan 27 onwards.
Ridzuan also lamented the RM110 flat-rate imposed by Grab for passengers travelling from Genting Highlands to anywhere in Malaysia.
"Its simply illogical, RM110 from Genting to Kelantan, for example.
“When returning to Genting, we’ll need to pay for the tolls ourselves, the fuel is also expensive," he said, adding that some of his Grab-driving friends have complained of less profit due to such rules.
Therefore, he asked Grab to review the flat-rate ruling.
Apart from Genting, Grab also imposes a flat-rate rule of RM65 to and fro the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and KLIA 2.
Ridzuan also claimed that Grab's agenda was to "kill" conventional taxies by first imposing low fares, and then increase their fares when the taxi industry is wiped out.
He also warned cabbies to stop harassing Grab and Uber drivers, as has happened before.
Instead, they (cabbies) should channel their anger towards "ministers" who have endorsed ride sharing platforms, he added.
Meanwhile, Grab Malaysia's country head Sean Goh, in a statement, later said the new scheme only applies to a selected number of drivers who drive flexible-hours.
He stressed that the penalty only kicks in on the rejection of the fourth job for the day.
"On the flip side, drivers who are part of this exercise will also be rewarded with an additional RM1.50 should they complete any booking."
Goh then urged drivers with issues with the new ruling to approach Grab for feedback and assistance.- Mkini
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