JustGrab Passenger Furious After She Was Almost Made To Share Her Grab With Stranger

2019-12-19 , 10:00 pm

A passenger was left confused and furious after her JustGrab almost turned into a GrabShare.

For those who don’t use Grab, here’s an introduction to some of Grab’s lingo.

A JustGrab ride automatically assigns the nearest vehicle, either a taxi or a car, to you at an upfront fixed fare rate.

A GrabShare ride is one where you share your rides with other passengers at a lower price than JustGrab.

So you can imagine the shock when you book a JustGrab but your driver informs you that he’s going to a different location to pick up another passenger.

Driver Rejected Request To Change Drop-Off Point To Across The Street

In a post reshared on a Facebook page for Gojek/Grab drivers and riders, a lady shared her experience on how she was almost made to share her JustGrab ride.

At about 7pm on 14 December, Chen Caiyan booked a JustGrab from Park Royal to Bugis Junction.

When she and her two friends were about to reach Bugis Junction, her friend asked if the driver could let them alight at Tan Quee Lan Street which was right opposite Bugis Junction.

However, the driver said no and explained that there was another passenger.

But Chen and her friends didn’t think much of it and just thought that maybe the driver wanted to pick up his next passenger at Bugis Junction.

Driver Going Further Away From Destination

However, things started getting strange when he was driving further away from Bugis Junction.

“I was feeling weird and getting more scared, so I questioned the driver if we were going to Bugis Junction”, said Chen in the Facebook post.

The driver confirmed that they were going to Bugis Junction but he was going to pick up the next passenger at Raffles City first.

This was when things started getting confusing for everyone in the car.

JustGrab Or GrabShare?

At that point in time, Chen had thought that she had selected GrabShare instead of JustGrab.

However, she checked and found out that she had indeed selected JustGrab.

To confirm, her friend repeatedly asked the driver if she had selected GrabShare but he did not answer.

By then, they were already in the middle of Little India.

At this point, I applaud them for staying calm. I would have FREAKED out and would have thought that the driver was kidnapping me.

The driver later said that the passenger that he was picking up had opted for a GrabShare ride which would be combined with hers since they are going to the same location.

JustGrab Can Share One Meh?

Chen was confused as she thought that JustGrab didn’t allow sharing.

The driver then said that there was probably an issue with the system and he didn’t know what was wrong.

After taking screenshots of what JustGrab is, she told the driver that JustGrab isn’t a shared ride.

The driver then said that the GrabShare passenger had cancelled the trip so he’ll just proceed to Bugis Junction.

After getting off, Chen called Grab but they kept emphasising that JustGrab isn’t a shared ride but they will check and get back to her.

New Feature For Grab

Turns out, Chen had just experienced a new feature that Grab was piloting.

In the exchange between Chen and Grab personnel, Bert and Lea, on Facebook Messenger, Chen was informed that the feature would turn the JustGrab ride into a GrabShare with consent from the user on board.

However, Chen said that she did not receive any notification on the consent of the ride. In addition, Grab users were not given information on this launch either.

“I’m quite disappointed that I wasn’t informed about this. When I spoke to my friends and colleagues, they too weren’t aware of it”, she said.

Further Review To Be Done

Chen should have been able to click either the “Share Ride” or “Not this time” option.

According to the messages exchanged by Grab and Chen, the options will be gone in 25 seconds if no action was made.

In response to STOMP’s query, a Grab spokesperson said that they are aware of the incident and said that Chen’s ride was not converted to a GrabShare ride during the journey.

Grab is currently investigating the matter.

Till then, stay safe on your Grab! Do keep an eye out and do not be afraid to voice out concerns if your Grab is going in a different direction from your intended destination.