Does 4 Passengers Include Driver? GrabCar Limit Sparks Debate

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A woman’s post on social media platform Threads has gone viral after she spoke out about a GrabCar driver who denied her entry into the vehicle.

In her post, user @yeppeun.aibi or Mina, called for any Grab driver in Malaysia who could explain the issue.

Mina said she had ordered JustGrab but when the driver arrived, he said that there were too many passengers on her side, before denying her the ride. She explained that there were two adults, one child, and one infant on her side.

She also highlighted that in the app, the JustGrab service states it is for four passengers.

The driver also allegedly told her to cancel the ride.

“He said four people including the driver. This has happened twice. JustGrab drivers are usually okay with us. I’m just stunned by this and I need an explanation!” she said.

Other users get into debate about whether four passengers include the driver or not

The responses to Mina’s post was mixed, with some saying that the passenger limit does include the driver, while some say otherwise.

One user replied to Mina saying that a JustGrab booking is meant for four passengers and does not include the driver. She claimed that Grab drivers would get a RM3 compensation if a customer cancels the ride when the driver has reached the pickup point, implying that it’s a scam method among Grab drivers.

She also claimed that drivers are not allowed to tell customers to cancel their ride, and that if there is a problem with the customer, the driver is supposed to report the situation to Grab customer service and get Grab to cancel that customer’s ride.

Grab driver cancelling vs passenger cancelling

Checks on Grab’s website confirms that a JustGrab driver would recieve a tiered compensation with RM3 flat fee should the passenger cancel their ride at the last minute, or after the driver has reached the pickup point.

On the other hand, a Grab driver who cancels rides too many times may face penalties such as suspension or even a ban from picking up jobs through the app.

Grab explains a driver’s Cancellation Rate (CR) on their website, which is a simple formula: number of jobs you’ve cancelled divided with the number of jobs you’ve accepted.

A warning SMS will be issued to drivers who keep cancelling rides or jobs, allowing them to improve their CR. In total, there are three stages before they are banned: soft warn, warn, suspension and re-education, and finally banned.

For passengers who excessively cancel or ignore their rides, their account may be temporarily suspended for 24 hours, locking them out of the app.

APAD says a four-passenger vehicle includes the driver as well

According to the Land Public Transport Agency, any vehicle under the e-hailing services category with a four-passenger limit does indeed include the driver. This is the same for other vehicle classes that may have a higher passenger limit, such as a six-seater van (five passengers and one driver).

Grab does indicate the number of passengers as well as well as allowed luggage capacity on their website. However, the information they provided is not very clear or does not determine whether the passenger limit includes the driver or not.

In any case, it’s probably safest to adhere to APAD, JPJ, or even the Ministry of Transport’s definition of passengers – which includes the driver as a passenger.

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