GrabTaxi in Manila

Having read a series of unfortunate experiences posted on Facebook from lady commuters, it made me a lot skeptical to take a cab alone especially at night. It's really frustrating that regardless if you pay a higher cost for your fare, being you as the only passenger seated with your own driver for that trip, security is still not guaranteed. Good for you if only taking a less than 30 minute trip, otherwise, all you can do is to inform someone about your cab details, pray and hope that in good faith, the person behind the steering wheel is reliable.



You can imagine how thankful I am and maybe the rest of the commuters who's already used Grab Taxi, a smartphone application that enables taxi booking and dispatching service. First thing to do is to download this application on your iOS or Android phones. You will be asked to create a user profile with a valid email address and mobile number. You will also be needing an LTE/3G/WIFI access to use this app and Location Services (phone GPS) must be on.




On my way to the Blogapalooza event, I got my first-hand experience of this application. On the main menu, I tapped Book Taxi and entered from and to details, as easy as that! The application will then locate the closest Grab Taxi driver who is interested to take my booking. In less than a minute, 1 driver accepted and his details appeared on the screen. That's a speedy and transparent booking!



The driver, who is not a stranger anymore since I now have his name, arrived in front of our gate in 5 minutes. Rain or shine, we could just wait comfortably inside our homes.



As soon as my booking was completed and accepted, I also received an SMS that a booking fee of Php70 will be charged on top of my fare. That is reasonable for me because the cab meter will only start as soon as I hopped in. Currently, Globe users can enjoy a Php20 discount from the booking fee.

I find the Grab Taxi application highly efficient and organized. It helped regain my trust taking a cab again because I know someone is ensuring the passenger's safety. I also noticed that most cabs affiliated have better units, this is my primary concern because I try to avoid LPG users.



It was 7pm when hubby and I decided to go home, I am certain that taxi bay will already have longer queues. I was very happy with my first Grab Taxi experience and asked him to try and see if it works well even on rush hours. So we booked before reaching the mall exit.

I got confused at first. As you see from above photo, the driver is only 1.8 KM away from me so that should take him a little less than 5 minutes to get there.



Then all of a sudden, he is now 8 minutes away from me. I just let it pass since the countdown is moving anyway but when it was down to 5 minutes, it jumped back to 8 minutes again! Why???

Little did we know, the driver passed the taxi bay area three times and we did not see him! OMG. The mall security even shooed him away, disallowing him to wait for his passenger. I felt really bad for driver and thanked him for not cancelling my booking during this rush hour.
Halfway to our destination, the Grab Taxi representative from the Blogapalooza event called the driver that I am exempted from the booking fee (and that they will be the one to pay for it on my behalf). Btw, my cab fare that morning was also refunded. Double thank you guys!
But since our driver was really kind and drove us safely home, I decided to still pay the extra amount. A kind gesture should always be returned with another kind gesture, syempre.

To those who are not smartphone users, you can still book a taxi by calling (02) 642-3525; 641-4532; 640-2318; or txt 0939-1533495; 0927-8384833 for pickups. In case any problems occur, we can email Grab Taxi at support.mnl@grabtaxi.com to further investigate.

Grab Taxi
https://www.facebook.com/grabtaxi.ph


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