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<Report from overseas office> [Thailand] Thailand's Ridesharing Situation - The Influence of Grab

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Traffic is still very heavy in Bangkok today. Compared to a few years ago, it seems to be getting more and more intense. In fact, it once took me two hours to get to a place that would have taken me 15 minutes if the roads were clear. As soon as I started working in Thailand, I realized that the estimated arrival time by Google Maps was not reliable, and I decided to resign myself to the fact that I should arrive in about twice the estimated time.
It's not only the roads that are crowded, but also the commuter rush on the trains these days is at a ridiculous level. At some stations, there are lines outside the ticket gates during rush hour. In some stations, there are queues outside the ticket gates during rush hour because of the entry restrictions. Even if you do manage to get on the platform, you can't be too careful, and because you don't force yourself to get on the train until it's packed tightly, you often have to miss two or three trains to get on during peak hours.
I often have to miss the train two or three times during peak hours. On the other hand, there are rare occasions when I do not encounter any traffic jam at all. The fact that there are almost no traffic jams in the center of the city during New Year's and Songkran (water sprinkling festival) is similar to the New Year's in Tokyo when the city is a shell of its former self.

The other day, I had to use Grab to travel a distance of about 50 km one way in the evening, when the traffic would normally be terrible. I was checking my email on my phone after getting into the car with a gloomy feeling, imagining the slow traffic jam. Suddenly, the driver shouted with joy. There was no traffic at all! He said. Come to think of it, we've come a long way back to the center of the city. After waiting at a traffic light, I turned left at the intersection and said, "Look! There's no traffic here either! There's no traffic here either! The drivers were so excited. The driver was so excited that I had to look back and listen to him every time he said that, which made me feel like driving calmly, and I could only reply in an unfriendly manner. This was the first time I wished for a traffic jam so that the driver could calm down. After going on for a while, I turned right at the intersection and saw that this was the third time there was no traffic on this street. While I could sympathize with the driver's happiness as I watched him go crazy, I was also worried that the driver might have used up all his luck. In fact, except for New Year's Day and other times of the year, this was truly a miracle.

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Grab is the most popular ride-sharing app in Thailand. As a foreigner, it is very useful for me because I can get to my destination without any inconvenience even if I can't explain in detail in Thai, since I don't need to explain where I am going once I enter my destination and press the reservation button. However, to my surprise, this was not the case, and there were many times when the driver called me through the app and asked me where I was or where I was going. In fact, the app has an automatic translation function, so even if the driver chats to me in Thai, it will translate according to the language that I, the receiver, have set. The accuracy of Thai to Japanese is not that high yet, so I set it to English, but I can say that I rarely have trouble. Now that I can speak Thai, the phone calls are rather welcome, but at the time, they were just terrifying. There were also negotiations such as, "It's going to take about 30 minutes due to heavy traffic, can you wait? I was in a hurry most of the time. Most of the time, I was in a hurry, so I would say, "I'll cancel," and try to make the reservation again. If you cancel too many times, you will be charged several tens of baht, so you will naturally develop the know-how to use the app while keeping in mind the timing of your request for car allocation and alternative means of transportation.

Normally, you would think that if you call for a car through the app, the nearest driver would come to you, but this is not the case. However, this is not the case. When a reservation is notified, the drivers in the vicinity who are willing to give a ride to the reservation holder raise their hands. In fact, Grab users are in the position of being chosen by drivers. Therefore, even if the app shows icons of cars waiting to be dispatched in the vicinity, it is possible that no one will come to pick you up. In fact, I was once stranded in an industrial park in the suburbs, completely ignored by Grab drivers. Once in the industrial park, it takes a long time to get out of the industrial park area due to the limited exit roads, and traffic jams are also expected to be heavy when drivers exit the park to return to the suburbs after heading to Bangkok, my destination. So, the driver ignored me as it was the worst choice in terms of time efficiency.

By the way, when a passenger gets off the bus, the driver is supposed to grade the passenger. When I saw it, it was a two-step grading system. Passengers are graded as either "Good" or "Bad". Passengers are also ranked in four levels according to the points they accumulate based on their fare and the driver's evaluation. The other day, I was awarded the title of Platinum Member, the highest ranking. I was recently awarded the title of Platinum Member, which is the highest level of membership, and I received various rewards such as discounts at restaurants including delivery, discounts on online shopping, free movie tickets, discounts on travel, etc. In addition, the number of ways to use the points you have accumulated will increase dramatically because you can use them for various rewards such as discounts on restaurants including delivery, discounts on online shopping, free tickets to movies, discounts on travel, etc. with fewer points than when you are a lower level member. You can also donate your points to UNICEF.

What surprised me the other day was that I received an invitation to a screening of a new movie for Platinum members only. In this way, once you become a Platinum member of Grab, you will have more and more time to experience various things through Grab, not only as a means of transportation but also when you are not in the car. In case you're wondering, the rewards are the same as advertising space, so you may not always get the same rewards. As a result, people naturally open the app more often to check for special rewards, which is a clever way to generate contact with Grab outside of the ride. In addition, services such as food delivery and simple goods transportation are also available through the same app, making it a valuable service for people who do not have a Platinum membership but are still plagued by traffic congestion as mentioned above. It can be said that Grab has created a system that allows people to live comfortably without owning a car.

Let's return to Grab as a means of transportation. The reason for this is that, unlike Taxi, which is a combination of cabs and private cars, the driver owns his or her own car, so there is a good chance that you will always be able to get a different car (Taxi is almost always the same type of car). Therefore, if you are lucky, you may be able to ride in a car that you have always wanted to ride in. For example, there is the MG, which is now selling at a very high rate in Thailand; the Mitsubishi Expander, which exploded in popularity when it was first sold in Indonesia, causing an unusual delay in delivery because there was no more capacity to export it to Thailand; and the Toyota CH-R, which made a spectacular debut at the 2018 Bangkok Motor Show. Other pickup trucks with the highest market share in Thailand include Isuzu's D-Max, Ford's Ranger, and Mazda's BT-50. Even the Proton, a Malaysian domestic car that seems to have crossed the border from land-locked Malaysia, comes to pick me up, which is always a thrill when I book a Grab. Although there are not that many luxury cars, you can encounter Toyota Camry, Fortuner, and Honda Accord.

Most of the drivers are men, but I was surprised to see that there are far more women than in ordinary cabs. Since they are ordinary cars, the interiors are naturally ordinary. There are no protectors like in Japanese cabs. Since the fare is usually paid by credit card registered on the Grab app, the driver does not need to carry much cash, and there is little risk of robbery for money, which makes this possible. In addition, as mentioned earlier, passengers are also evaluated each time they use the service, and the passenger ranking system serves as a guide for drivers to choose passengers. The drivers are also evaluated by the passengers on a five-point scale. With this kind of mutual evaluation system, both drivers and passengers can use taxis with more confidence. In addition, the reputation of ordinary cabs in Thailand is not good, with many being ripped off or refused rides, so it is still not a very comfortable means of transportation for consumers. This is one of the reasons why the use of Grab is gaining momentum.

The Grab app now offers a way for passengers to become drivers as a side job to make the most of their free time. Passengers may imagine themselves earning extra income as a driver from the back seat. One of the features of the service is that the service provider and receiver are as seamless as possible. This is an essential element for Grab to realize the concept of ridesharing as a way of transporting people. While providing a mechanism for a comfortable life without having to own a personal car, Grab is simultaneously achieving the contradictory task of expanding the number of service providers.

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For those who are considering buying a car, Grab Car is a real test drive experience. If by chance the car you are considering buying is dispatched to you, it is a great opportunity to not only experience the ride, but also to hear what the driver has to say about the car's usability. We don't hear much about the awareness that Grab Car drivers are positioned as an extremely important touch point for automakers.

Thailand has one of the fastest aging populations in ASEAN. Thailand has one of the highest numbers of traffic fatalities in the world, with more than 400 people losing their lives in traffic accidents during the week around this New Year. During the New Year's period, movie theaters in Thailand have been showing a campaign to eradicate drunk driving with realistic scenes of traffic deaths in an effort to reduce the number of traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers. In this country, will consumers who use Grab, especially the younger generation, shift to a life without a car in the future, or will they choose to own a car with the possibility that a side job as a Grab driver is not a bad idea? In Bangkok, in particular, the railroad system is being developed, and the last mile from the station to home or work is being covered by traditional options such as motorcycle cabs, making it easier to secure transportation without owning a car. The problem of traffic congestion, which is getting worse than anything else, is not expected to be solved. I believe that we are approaching an age where the triggers for choosing to own a car cannot be explained simply by factors such as income level, tax incentives, or changes in family structure. With this in mind, I'm driving my Grab Car to work today.

Translated with AI Translator


  • Intage Inc

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    Daisuke Aoba

    Male researcher in his 40s living in Thailand. He has visited more than 30 countries in the past. He believes in seeking out the best for the consumers in the country and always trying to be close to their feelings.
    He continues to post his own global gourmet posts, which are viewed about 1,000 times a day, mainly in Thailand.

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    Intege.inc

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