Grab is down (UPDATED)

[UPDATE 12/10/2019 18:21] Grab Malaysia has responded to our inquiry regarding drivers not getting riders. Here’s their full statement:

To comply with the regulations, all of our driver-partners were encouraged to have the following:
– PSV licence OR proof of passing the exam (while they wait for their PSV licence)
– Puspakom disc, if their vehicle is more than 3 years old from the date of manufacture
– E-hailing sticker displayed on the front and read windscreen
– Valid e-hailing insurance – Grab Daily E-hailing insurance or annual
– E-hailing Vehicle Permit

A valid insurance is important to safeguard both drivers and passengers. E- hailing drivers can still use their existing private car insurance while adding an additional e-hailing top up to comply with e-hailing regulation. Driver’s could either choose to their own annual e-hailing insurance or opt-in to Grab’s Daily E-hailing Insurance.

The Ministry of Transport has made it compulsory that all vehicles used for e-hailing must have an e-hailing add-on. Therefore, driver-partners MUST purchase the additional e-hailing add-on, on top of the existing motor insurance to continue driving from 12 October 2019 onwards. To continue driving all driver’s would need to ensure that they have a valid e-hailing insurance provided, as well as updated information on their insurance policies and a motor insurance that has not expired. 

-Grab Malaysia

According to a Grab Malaysia representative, one of the possible reasons for drivers not being able to secure riders has to do with the insurance component of the requirements. These include not having valid e-hailing insurance, as well as not providing updated information on their insurance policies. So, if you’re a driver facing this issue, you can reach out to Grab to get it sorted out.

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[UPDATE 12/10/2019 15:04] Grab Malaysia has reached out to us to inform us that they’ve fixed the problems with their app so riders shouldn’t be facing these issues anymore.

However, looking on Twitter, it looks like Grab drivers are now facing a problem of being unable to get any riders.

We’re not quite sure what the issue is here, but we’ve reached out to Grab Malaysia for clarification on the matter. Perhaps one reason could be due to the fact that the new e-hailing regulation kicks in today, the 12th of October 2019. Grab themselves have warned riders through the app that demand could be going up due to the lack of drivers, but it seems peculiar that some drivers are reporting difficulty in getting riders altogether.

In any case, we’ll update this story again as soon as we hear from Grab.

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OK today’s traffic seems abnormally bad where we are, even by Friday standards. But, for those of you who rely on ride-sharing services, there might be worse news because it looks like Grab is down.

Whether it be getting a ride, topping up, or even launching the application, the Grab app seems to refuse to work. Alex’s app doesn’t even update his Grab rewards properly. At first, we thought it was an isolated incident, but searching on Twitter, it looks like there are a bunch more users experiencing issues with the Grab app.

Grab themselves have also confirmed that their facing some technical issues with their app but they’re in the midst of sorting it out.

Unfortunately, they didn’t give a timeline on when they expect a fix to be pushed out. We’ve also heard reports that other ride-hailing services like EzCab and MyCar are down but haven’t personally tested it to verify.

Are you guys experiencing any issues with ride-hailing services? Let us know in the comments below.