Grab Reveals Causes of Ride-Hailing Crisis During Ramadhan
JAKARTA — The phenomenon widely referred to as a “ride-hailing crisis” during Ramadhan has prompted complaints from users struggling to obtain Grab transportation services, particularly in Jakarta and its surrounding areas. Several users reported having to wait longer as available driver partners were located quite far from their pickup points.
Tyas Widyastuti, Director of Mobility, Food & Logistics at Grab Indonesia, acknowledged the complaints from some users regarding longer service wait times over recent days.
“We understand the complaints from some users regarding longer service wait times in recent days, particularly in the Jakarta area and its surroundings,” Widyastuti said in an official statement to Kompas.com on Wednesday, 1 March 2026.
She explained that overall, Grab services continue to operate normally. However, at certain times and in certain areas, some users may experience longer wait times than usual.
“This occurs because in recent times, demand for mobility and delivery services, including GrabExpress, GrabFood, and other services, has experienced quite significant increases,” Widyastuti said.
At the same time, driver partner availability is also affected by several external factors, including extreme rainy weather conditions that have caused flooding on several road sections, as well as traffic congestion that is higher than usual.
Currently, Grab’s operational team is undertaking various measures to restabilise driver partner availability and maintain service quality.
“Grab’s operational team is implementing various steps to restabilise driver partner availability and maintain service quality, including through various operational adjustments to ensure balance between service demand and Driver Partner availability in the field,” Widyastuti said.
This situation has caused some workers who depend on online transportation to wait longer for their commute home or to order food delivery services approaching the time for breaking fast.
On the other hand, various speculations have emerged regarding the cause of the situation. Some users believe that increasingly heavy congestion discourages drivers from accepting orders due to increased fuel consumption and longer travel times. Others cite additional factors such as customer ratings becoming a consideration for drivers in accepting orders.
Grab stated that it will continue to monitor the situation and make operational adjustments so that services for users, merchants, and driver partners can return to operating more optimally, particularly approaching the Ramadhan and Eid al-Fitr periods when service demand typically increases.