Following a lot of flak from the commuting public, ride-sharing company Grab is taking measures to bring erring drivers into line and prevent any more damage to its reputation and service. Having already sanctioned almost 500 drivers last week after an increasing number of complaints about refused or canceled trips appeared on social media, the firm is now changing the way journeys are managed. Starting this coming Friday (April 27), Grab drivers will no longer see the destination a passenger wants to go to when the latter is requesting a ride.

The destination-masking feature, which erstwhile rival Uber also used to have when it operated in the country, is aimed at reducing the number of refused trips whenever a driver sees the destination on the app and doesn’t fancy going there. The new app feature will initially be rolled out to the 25% of Grab drivers who have historically low-acceptance rates in an attempt to either get them to up their game or presumably persuade them to follow a different career path.

The new app feature will initially be rolled out to the 25% of Grab drivers who have historically low-acceptance rates

Grab is also rolling out a new auto-accept feature that automatically allocates jobs to drivers, streamlining the frantic dance of supply and demand that is taking place in Metro Manila every day.

Grab Philippines country head Brian Cu stated that these measures were taken after the company sought guidance from the Department of Transportation, and that the transport app provider wants to vastly improve its service.

Cu mentioned that he is expecting Grab drivers to be more disciplined in the future, especially after 500 of them faced sanctions recently, ranging from suspension to a complete ban from the platform. He is also calling on passengers to do their part by verifying their accounts and providing true and accurate information. He is asking riders to keep cancellations to a minimum, and to let drivers wait no longer than seven minutes upon arrival at the pick-up point.