I had some new planning to do but basically had time to burn for a month while waiting for the next adventure to kick start in Borneo. Bluey was en-route shipping to Kuching and I could only wait.
After sitting at home for a week I was bored to death and decided to try driving GRAB for fun to burn time and earn some pocket money. Better than just burning away money everyday on food and entertainment, might as well drive a little and explore my own hometown Kuala Lumpur while getting paid to do it.
Registration with GRAB was quit easy online and once done I had to go to the main HQ in PJ to get the documents verified. First time I went there it was not accepted since the car was under mom’s name and they needed another letter self written and sign by mom like a consent letter to allow me to drive the car since the insurance cover already specified all drivers.
Two days later I got the letter after some messages with Bro in SG since mom was in SG and back to the GRAB HQ I went. The whole procedure was quite fast other than waiting in line for half an hour to get a queue number.
So apparently the rules are changing ... soon all drivers will need a PSV license which is like a taxi license and a medical check up and cars above 3 years of age must undergo Puspakom inspection every year but for now I could drive till July 2019 ... which was just nice since I only plan to drive till July exactly one month.
My hands itch to start right away but I decided to go home first and do some reading up. Tidy the car and remove any unwanted junk and by 2pm I decided to give it a go.
The GRAB driver experience was kinda fun. To be a tourist in my own city and get paid to do it. Most jobs on the first day was just ferrying people from the housing estate to the MRT station then back to the housing estate. I ended up getting jobs to and fro from home and kept going home to chill while waiting for the next job. Small jobs ... RM 5 minimum to around RM 8 for two hours in the afternoon it clocked RM45 which was quite decent.
Then in the evening 5pm I tried again to see how peak hour goes. Got a job to the MRT again and immediately another job came in to another housing estate and another and another and suddenly I was near leisure Mall in Cheras.
Whoa ... It was non stop driving picking up passengers and dropping them off one after another with no breaks in between. I decided to stop the app and it was already 8pm ... 3 hours of driving ...
So first day was a total of 5 hours of driving with RM 100 earning ... minus commissions of RM 20 and minus petrol which was about RM 30 ... left with RM50 .... err .... so that's like a RM10 an hour job to equate.
2nd day was a Saturday and i drove today for 6 hours with more or less the same results but clocking 100km. I could start to see the pattern ... it is very much a crazy driving job non stop really with no breaks unless one turn off the app stopping incoming job.
The fun part was just driving all around KL city seeing all my childhood growing up places passing by so many old buildings that brings back memories which I wont event make the journey if not for GRAB since driving all the way downtown just to see old buildings and finding parking was a pain in the ass.
Some rides were weird as well ... one lady took a grab for less than 500m away. From Sunway Velocity Shopping Mall to MyTown Shopping mall .. both shopping mall is actually connected via a walking linkway and I was driving alongside the linkway ...*facepalm* ... the lady said the ride was free for her since she had a promo code ... I got the minimum sum of RM 5 and when it was time for her to go she still gave me a tip of RM6 .... err ....
One guy I picked up at Balakong MRT wanted to go to a restaurant that was 50m from the MRT ... new kid in the block did not know where it was so he ordered a GRAB ... so I brought him 50m to the restaurant via a 300m road ...(It was a one way street so I had to do a U-turn) .... I was laughing and he was facepalming all the way and at the drop point I told him how to walk back to the MRT to go home later with both of us having a good laugh.
One tourist couple in downtown KL ordered a ride to the famous Tian Hou Gong Temple in brickfields and it has been years since I visited this temple so after dropping them off, I also parked the car and paid my respects to the temple taking a break from driving and just relaxing .... half an hour later when I launch the App again, they were the first order on Job. Oh Hello again !!
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| Tian Hou Gong Temple - Kuala Lumpur |
I have to say, to make a living with GRAB in Malaysia is definitely not an easy task despite what the advert says nor base on the long queue of many drivers signing up hoping to make a killing. Base on some complaints of people trying to make a killing driving GRAB and failing to do so, i would say its really more suitable for a side income booster or a part time hobby than a permanent job however one thing is for certain, its an honest work. Put in the hours on the road for the money.
Traveled on : Jun 2019
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