Quieter rides with a “no chatting” option

Grab Editorial

. March 8, 2023

For some, riding in a car with a stranger can be awkward if one person enjoys chatting but the other doesn’t. After hearing user requests for quiet rides, Grab’s design team decided to test a new feature that would allow the app to take on the awkward task of cutting the small talk during the ride.

We first introduced quiet rides in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand as a trial feature. This feature has since been rolled out in those three countries as well as in Vietnam and Singapore.

In the trial version, passengers receive a pop-up notification to opt for a quiet ride once their booking has been confirmed. They were then directed to the GrabChat page where they were prompted to key in “quiet ride” to opt in should they prefer one.

Those who opted for quiet rides were more likely to give 5-star ratings than those on non-quiet rides.

Early reactions to the trial were encouraging. In Malaysia, for instance, those who opted for quiet rides were more likely to give 5-star ratings than those on non-quiet rides.

However, take-up rates were hindered by the low visibility of the feature. Some users also wanted to permanently turn this on, and not have to opt-in each time they took a ride.

To allow the opt-in to be more seamless, our product team designed a toggle button which appears in a drop down menu right after a ride is booked. The quiet ride option is now displayed together with the other ways passengers can customise their ride.

Quiet rides are just another option for people to personalise their Grab rides.

We’re also exploring ways for both driver-partner and rider to understand expectations around the ride experience. For example, driver-partners will be notified if they should keep their music playing, or if they can take phone calls.