Aiming to reduce the risks of COVID-19 transmission on its transport services, Grab on Tuesday (2 June) announced ‘GrabProtect‘, a series of precautionary measures that will be implemented progressively in Singapore from end-June.
For a start, the ride-hailing firm will enforce safe distancing within all vehicles by banning passengers to sit in the front seat next to the driver.
“This means for instance that a regular four-seater car will only take up to three passengers”, said Grab in its statement yesterday.
Grab also noted that it is mandatory for all users to wear a mask when they are out.
Passengers and driver-partners can cancel the booking if either party shows up without a mask or appears to be unwell. The penalty for cancellations associated with these two reasons will be waived by Grab.
Besides that, Grab will be rolling out two new in-app features – an online health and hygiene declaration form and a mask selfie tool.
“The new online health and hygiene declaration feature will require all drivers and delivery-partners, as well as passengers to confirm that they do not exhibit COVID-19 symptoms, and have adopted the necessary safety and hygiene measures, before they can start driving, delivering orders or booking a ride,” said Grab.
Once the declaration is completed, drivers and delivery riders will be prompted to take a selfie using the mask selfie feature.
Noting that it has updated its in-app ratings and feedback features, Grab stated that users will be allowed to report health and hygiene-related concerns as well as provide feedback after each trip.
It added that necessary actions – including suspension of ride-hailing accounts – will be taken to those found to have inadequately practiced precautionary measures.
What’s more, Grab also mentioned that about 100,000 face masks and sanitisers have been made available for its driver and delivery riders to collect at various locations since March.
The firm is also exploring partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers across Southeast Asia to make it easy and affordable for drivers and delivery-partners to acquire hygiene products.
Grab’s Regional Head of Operations Russell Cohen asserted that all industries have a greater awareness of safety and hygiene in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
“Safety has always been a core value at Grab and with programmes like GrabProtect, we are setting a higher bar for hygiene standards in ride-hailing,” he remarked.
“Together with our driver partners, we can help enforce new hygiene habits even before the ride starts.”
