By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz
MANILA – Grab Philippines is investigating allegations of higher fares being charged to its GrabUnlimited subscribers.
In a statement on Tuesday, the ridesharing and delivery company said prices on its platform are generated in real-time based on the balance of supply and demand, distance, estimated travel time, route conditions, and driver or delivery partner availability.
“Because these factors shift continuously—sometimes within seconds—two transactions for what appears to be the same route or order, initiated even moments apart, may reflect different prices. This is also why prices may vary between devices, sessions, or times of day,” it said.
Grab’s pricing system, it said, applies the same methodology to every user and does not charge different base prices based on who the user is, their subscription, or how frequently they use the platform.
“Promotions, vouchers, and subscription benefits such as discounts are applied on top of the same base price that any user would see at that moment,” it said.
However, the company acknowledged the allegations of fare discrepancies by initiating an internal review of specific cases and a broader review of its pricing systems.
“[This is] to confirm that they are operating exactly as designed and as we have described. Should this review surface anything that requires correction, we will act on it,” it said.
Previously, several netizens posted fare discrepancies showing that GrabUnlimited users are being charged higher fares compared to regular users.
In a viral Threads post on March 29, a user showed she was being charged PHP216 for a trip while subscribed to GrabUnlimited, while her mother’s regular Grab account is being charged PHP192 for the same trip.
On March 27, another Threads user showed that she was being charged PHP438 for a trip using her GrabUnlimited and GrabUnlimited Car subscriptions, while her son’s regular Grab account was only being charged PHP360 for the same trip. (PNA)
