MANILA - Ride-hailing company Grab on Monday said it has sanctioned almost 500 drivers last week, following complaints of cancelled bookings.

Grab country manager Brian Cu said the company has intensified its campaign to purge erring drivers and that he was expecting more drivers to be disciplined in the coming days.

“We see every post and complaint. We apologize that our services fell short," Cu said.

"We have rolled out additional and stricter measures to address issues on cancellations and this is just the start. We promise to improve to provide the quality of service our passengers deserve,” he added.

• LTFRB to summon Grab over cancelled rides

Only 5 percent of cancellation rate is allowed as a metric for incentives. Drivers with 10 percent and above cancellation rate per week may face sanctions such as suspension and complete ban from the platform, Grab said.

Cu also reminded passengers to also maintain "minimal and valid cancellations" and to keep waiting time to no more than 7 minutes.

• LTFRB suspends Grab's P2-per-minute extra charge

Low driver turn-out

Cu admitted only 50 percent of the passenger demand was serviced last Friday and Saturday, where an 11 percent driver cancellation rate was reported due to the suspension of its P2 per minute travel charge.

Because of the traffic, which stalls drivers, "no matter how willing they are to drive, they are left with no choice but to think of ways to recover their expenses. Sadly, most of them have resorted to cancelling bookings especially when they know they will traverse traffic," Cu said.

Cu hopes the LTFRB reinstates travel time fare since it benefits drivers and passengers.

"Let's face it: pag lugi ang driver, hindi lalabas yan. Walang masasakyan ang tao," he said.

On Friday, the LTFRB "set aside" its order that capped the "surge" or demand-based rate of ride-sharing service Grab at 1.5 times following the accreditation of Hype and other ride-sharing transport network companies.

• LTFRB sets aside cap on Grab 'surge' rate