Recall that back in May, the Philippine’s transport and communications department and land-transport bureau inched closer towards legitimizing and regulating the likes of Uber and GrabTaxi by creating a legal framework for ride-hailing services in the country.
Flash forward to now, and we’ve got the first ride-hailing service that can operate on a national scale without any legal threat: GrabCar, a subcategory of the GrabTaxi mobile app that can be downloaded for free on most app stores.
GrabCar, a subcategory of the GrabTaxi mobile app, is the first ride-hailing service that can operate on a national scale without any legal threat.
In a press statement, GrabTaxi said that GrabCar had already met all the requirements needed to become licensed in the Philippines and received full accreditation from the national government last week. That would imply that the company beat out its closest rival, Uber, and other firms which had also applied for licenses to operate in the country.
“With full accreditation, more Filipino commuters will be able to use GrabCar and be confident that we offer a legitimate and safe private-hire service. We will now focus on rapidly expanding our GrabCar service to serve more passengers across the Philippines,” Natasha Bautista, head of GrabCar Philippines, said.
She added that GrabTaxi is now working closely with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to ensure that the company’s driver screening and safety measures are of the highest caliber.
But it gets better for GrabCar riders: To celebrate its new-found legal status, GrabCar is knocking P100 off all GrabCar and GrabCar+ rides until July 21, 2015. Simply enter the promo code “LEGALLYGRAB” to apply the discount.
[youtube link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfYet4u8PsM” width=”560″ height=”315″]
GrabTaxi promo video from YouTube
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