KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 — E-hailing company, Grab has introduced a six-month pilot of its on-demand motorcycle service, GrabBike, in the Klang Valley.
Following its success in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, Grab has implemented its regional knowledge, expertise and experience to develop a framework to provide best practices to raise the safety standards for on-demand motorcycle services in Malaysia.
The GrabBike pilot is part of the government’s Proof of Concept programme, it said in a statement today.
Grab’s bike-hailing pilot has been available for trial since Jan 3, 2020 in selected areas within the Klang Valley, and the objective is to evaluate the feasibility and cultural fit of bike-hailing in the local context.
Grab Malaysia country head Sean Goh said with the help of its regional experts, the company will apply rigorous standards and learnings from across the region to enhance the service in the country.
“Safety continues to be Grab’s main priority. Not only are GrabBike drivers required to attend driver safety training and practical assessment, all GrabBike motorcycles are equipped with helmets for driver-partners and passengers, as well as reflective jackets for drivers.
“As with all Grab rides, both drivers and passengers are covered by personal accident insurance,” he said.
Grab said users can now opt to use GrabBike within the Klang Valley, available for travel within a 10-kilometre radius from the passengers’ current location. Users will be served by qualified driver-partners, who have completed their driver safety training and a practical riding assessment.
To protect the safety of both driver-partners and passengers, it said cash bookings for all GrabBike rides between 9 pm and 2 am will be disabled.
“Additionally, Grab will leverage all the tech-driven safety features that it has developed for e-hailing over the years, such as passenger selfie verification, safety centre, driver safety toolkit, telematics and others, and apply it to its GrabBike service,” it said.
Grab said it aimed to develop new initiatives and modules to raise the bar on safety standards for bike-hailing and on-demand delivery services on the platform, such as GrabBike, GrabFood, GrabExpress and GrabMart.
“By leveraging on its current technology and experience in safety, Grab aims to develop comprehensive training materials and guides for driver-partners and delivery-partners; education materials to raise awareness; and comprehensive training materials for its trainers,” it added. — Bernama
