Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand transportation and mobile payments platform, today launched ‘GrabTaxi Smiles Campaign’ to emphasize its market leadership as taxi ride-hailing app of choice^[1] which has contributed to the country’s transportation development and been with Thais for over 4 years. The new campaign introduces a new set of benefits and welfare to improve GrabTaxi driver-partners’ livelihoods with an aim to increase their happiness so that it will in turn lead to a better quality of services for passengers.

Mr. Wee Tang Yee, Country Head, Grab (Thailand) Ltd. said, “Grab’s mission right from the start has been to ‘Drive South East Asia Forward’ by providing safe and easily-accessible transportation option as well as improving the lives of driver-partners. Taxi ride-hailing was the first service, which was introduced on our application in Thailand. With less than a hundred GrabTaxi drivers when we started in 2013, today tens of thousands taxi drivers in Thailand are on Grab platform, representing 150%^[2] average year on year growth. With Grab’s digitized transportation platform, majority of taxi driver-partners averagely earn 39%^[3] more than the national average monthly wage while passengers can enjoy access to safer, more convenient and reliable taxi service.  It can be said that “GrabTaxi Makes Thais Smile” as we have always committed ourselves to solve local transportation issues and bring about the best benefits for passengers and the Thai taxi driver community.”

“As a locally-incorporated and registered Thai company, Grab is also committed to support Thailand’s ongoing efforts to provide safer and more convenient transportation service,” said Mr. Pita Limjaroenrat, Executive Director, Grab (Thailand) Ltd. “What we want to do is to build a seamless shared mobility ecosystem where everyone can benefit from. To achieve that, we see our driver-partners as the heart of our shared vision. For us, they are more than just drivers but the frontline of growth and change. Taxi drivers are also important contributors to Thailand’s public transportation ecosystem and it is our goal all along to improve their lives.”

As part of the “GrabTaxi Smiles” campaign, Grab is introducing a new set of benefits and welfare for our taxi driver-partners under 3 schemes; ‘Happy Taxi’, ‘Thank you Taxi’ and ‘Taxi We Care’.

I) Happy Taxi: Grab provides driver-partners with benefits and support that can help improve their livelihoods and working conditions. Under the Happy Taxi scheme, Grab is introducing a new set of benefits and welfare for taxi driver-partners which includes:

• Hourly Cash-Out: Grab understands that majority of taxi drivers depends on their daily earnings for their livelihood. We have adjusted our payment system to enable them to cash out their earnings more easily. Starting this month, the hourly cash-out feature, which GrabTaxi driver-partners can withdraw their income received from GrabPay and other incentives from 9am-4pm, is being rolled out and will be available to all GrabTaxi driver-partners by this week. We are also looking at rolling out the 24/7 hourly cash-out soon.
• Zero Take-out Rate: To increase GrabTaxi driver-partners’ earnings and encourage them to be more active in accepting rides, Grab will waive an app processing fee for GrabTaxi driver-partners for every booking they complete on GrabTaxi service until end of November 2017.
• Health Insurance: Under this new scheme, Grab has offered health insurance policies to 3,000 top-ranked GrabTaxi driver-partners starting this month.

II) Thank You Taxi: Grab values our dedicated driver-partners. We are aware that a lot of our GrabTaxi driver-partners work hard to support their family and their dream is to bring their loved ones on a vacation using their hard-earned income. To fulfill their wish, twenty GrabTaxi driver-partners who achieve the highest earnings in November 2017 will be rewarded with a 3-day 2-night fully sponsored trip to Singapore, together with one family member.

III) Taxi We Care: Grab wants to instill a sense of pride amongst taxi drivers in their job. Under the ‘Taxi We Care’ scheme, several marketing activities will be implemented to encourage taxi drivers to keep doing good through positive interactions with their passengers.  These activities include:

• GrabTaxi Smiles Vehicle Decal & Pampering Set: Starting from end November, a troop of GrabTaxi vehicles with a smiling face decal and smiley emoticon pillow on board aims to portray the warmth and friendliness image of GrabTaxi’s driver-partners. Lucky GrabTaxi passengers who manage to get rides in these vehicles will enjoy a special pampering experience on board which includes drinking water and cold towel.
• In-app promotional activity: Next month, we will launch an in-app activity to encourage friendly interactions between GrabTaxi driver-partners and their passengers by allowing passengers to vote and give honor badges to drivers.
• Handsome Heart Taxi with JS100 radio station: In partnership with JS100, Grab will promote “Handsome Heart Taxi” by encouraging JS100 audience to share a memorable story that they have experienced with taxi drivers and nominate them to reward for their honorable deeds as a form of encouragement. This tie-in programme with JS 100 will run between 11 November to 25 December 2017.

GrabTaxi Smiles Campaign is also part of Grab’s new Better 365 initiative, which aims to better serve the needs of our driver-partners everyday for 365 days a year. As a user-centric company which puts good service at the heart of our business, Grab constantly enhances our platform to best serve our driver-partners who spend majority of their time on the roads meeting the transportation needs of our passengers.  Under this initiative, Grab will continuously develop new features for GrabTaxi driver-partners to enhance their driving experience on Grab platform.

“Grab believes happy drivers equals happy passengers. Our campaign will ensure that taxi driver-partners’ hard work pays off and that they have the right tools so that they can work more comfortably, increase earnings and enhance their satisfaction level which will in turn lead to better quality of service for passengers. We would also like to support DLT’s initiatives to enhance public confidence for Thai taxi service as well as empower Thailand to tap on the benefits of ride-hailing by working with all relevant stakeholders and taxi driver communities,” concluded Mr. Limjaroenrat.

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^[1] As of October 2017, Grab holds 95% of market share among third party taxi ride-hailing apps across Southeast Asia

^[1] Average year on year growth of GrabTaxi driver-partners number in Thailand during 2013 – 2016

^[1] The figure is calculated based on GT driver-partners who completed a minimum 100 rides a month VS average monthly wage of worker in Thailand (Source: National Statistic Office as of March 2017)