It's the law of supply and demand. 

This is how Grab Philippines explained why the ride hailing app is always imposing surge pricing even during the wee hours of the day. 

Grab Philippines director for public affairs Booey Bonifacio noted there are only 40,000-45,000 TNVS drivers during the daytime. 

"We are perpetually in a state of 'yung demand mas malaki kesa sa supply and based sa economic principles, mag-su-surge pricing po talaga tayo," she said in a TeleRadyo Serbisyo interview. 

She said surge pricing can also happen even in predawn hours because there are fewer Grab drivers at that time. 

"Kung halimbawa maraming BPO nag ta try mag book at kakaunti ang driver, kahit 3 a.m. mag su surge talaga," she said. 

The lion's share of surge pricing also goes to the driver as an incentive "because they are the ones going out during traffic, or early in the morning," she said. 

A report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism earlier showed that rides of the GrabCar service always included surge fees, the additional cost computed by an algorithm to get more cars on the road. Data collected by PCIJ also suggested that customers still often endure lengthy wait times even when fares were high.