GrabTaxi

It was midnight on a Sunday when I tried getting a cab through GrabTaxi. I live in a small gated community, so hailing a cab at midnight is almost impossible.

GrabTaxi's FAQs say there's a P70 additional charge to reimburse the driver for gas used to go to my pick-up point. I wasn't sure that's fair, but I let it go because I don't always need cabs at midnight anyway.

The cab came and I got to my destination about 20 minutes later with no issues. But that first experience of GrabTaxi's service convinced me that the P70 charge is fair. Here are some of my reasons why:

- GrabTaxi shows you an estimate of how much your fare (sans the P70) could be

- The service was quick at finding and booking the nearest available cab to your pick-up point. Maybe it was fast for me since I had booked it around midnight. I wonder how it fares at rush hours?

- The app also gives you a time estimate for when the cab will arrive. In my case, it was 2-3 minutes later than forecasted and it made me just a teensy bit disappointed. But the cab eventually arrived anyway and I thought nothing of it anymore. Although, I would've appreciated being called or texted by the driver that he'll be slightly late. The service had my number anyway. But on the other hand...

- The app gives you the option to call the driver (yeah, I should've called huh? :P)

- GrabTaxi also gives you the option to cancel the booking any time before the cab arrives

- The driver I got was very courteous and drove safely. He followed all the traffic rules! And it was midnight! :)) Tell me that's not a rare treat when riding in cabs in Metro Manila. I was so pleased with the driver that I gave him a generous tip.

Based on this first experience, yes, I will use GrabTaxi again. I hope it continues to be reliable!

Disclaimer: I am not a paid endorser of GrabTaxi. This is just my honest personal feedback.

UPDATE: Booked with GrabTaxi again on a Tuesday around lunchtime to go to Makati from Pasig. The driver arrived maybe 10 minutes later than forecasted, but I wasn't in a hurry so it was OK. Having said that, GrabTaxi should improve their ETA forecasting and compensate for delays due to city traffic and other factors. Maybe it would help if their dispatchers could also check with MMDA and other traffic info sources (like those LGU Twitter accounts).

Apart from that, the ride was uneventful (just the way I like it!), and the driver was again neat and courteous.

Coincidentally, the people I met that Tuesday also booked with GrabTaxi. They book cabs there far more often than I do, and they had just the nicest things to say about the service, e.g. "consistent". That's a very good sign :)

Have you booked with GrabTaxi? How was your experience?

posted from Bloggeroid