Hi Steve! This was beautifully written! I am a user of Grab (and Go-Jek) too. While personally as a user, the only difference we felt was the convenience. I am sure that the driver felt more than just a convenience, they felt like they had a chance, that Grab provides them a source of income during their hardship.

Some of them told me stories about them being grateful that they found a source of income. Some of them told me stories about them feeling cheated by the system and not receiving any orders or silently banned (their words).

I am sure that running Grab is hard, to satisfy the needs of the riders while at the same time improving the lives of both drivers and riders. Especially in Indonesia where the conflict between conventional and online drivers seems to be a never-ending fight.

While I had a share of a bad experience when using Grab, I would like to thank you and any other company that creates a social impact like this. I know we can’t please everyone, and sometime, things went bad. While I am just a user of the app, when I heard stories from the driver about Grab changed their lives, it makes me happy too.

There are still things Grab could do to improve the lives of their drivers. A dedicated rest box / café for drivers, transportation maintenance support, transparent demand loads, etc. as I often heard from drivers.

Best wishes to you, Grab, and any other company that wanted to improve the lives of everyone.