Use of Grab – like services

BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering

Honours Project Proposal

NAME: Thet Naing Htoo

MATRICULATION NUMBER: 40455566
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Achille Fonzone
SUBMISSION DATE: 21st October 2020
1. Title of the project

Use of Grab – like services

2. Aim and Background of the project

The main aim of this honors project is to improve the application of “Grab services”
in Myanmar. As a developing country, modern technologies and services are not
widely used in Myanmar. Traditional ways can be great but modern services can
save energy, time and be more efficient and easy to access at any place and time.

Plenty of choices are available for the transport of society such as buses, taxies,
train and tricycles. However, in Myanmar, buses and trains are overcrowded, taxies
on the road asking for unfair charges and unsafe for women at night and tricycles
cannot go so far. The application of Grab is very easy and efficient. The user just
has to open Grab application, select a type to pay for the charges and make an
appointment. On the Grab app, the current location of the driver will be seen along
with real-time information. [ CITATION OTo17 \l 1033 ]

During the “Covid-19” eruption, it is safer for the passengers to utilize “Grab
services” rather than public transport. It is because the “Grab services” are
extensively safeguarded from the virus by the following measures.

 The Grab Services are taking up the safety qualities by supplying hand
cleaning gels and masks and keeping out of the motorists for a moment who
are sick till they are completely recovered.
 Besides, the Grab company is safeguarding their employees by donating in
case they are affected by the coronavirus during the quarantine period.
 The GrabShare service is unavailable until the Covid-19 outbreak is
completely over.
 Additionally, the Grab team is helping the local organizations by carrying out
contact tracing processes. [ CITATION Gra19 \l 1033 ]
Grab is also helping with the economy of South-East Asian countries by providing
jobs. There are more than nine million business managers, motorists, employees
such as delivery service providers and salespersons. 21% of the Grab motorists
were unemployed and 31% of salespersons were lack of salary before working for
Grab services.[CITATION Gra20 \l 1033 ]

Grab can not only provide plenty of services but also can develop an economy of the
local country. The services available are vehicle rentals and taxis for transport, food
and goods delivery services, booking hotels and shopping online. The payment can
be done via visa or bank cards online so that no contact payment will be done during
Covid-19 outbreak.[ CITATION Gra201 \l 1033 ]

3. Research Objectives

The objectives to complete the target of the honours project are as below;

 Analyzing and comparing the application of Grab services in Myanmar and

internationally.
 Improving Grab services in Myanmar.
 Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of using Grab services.
 Developing new ideas of the Grab services so that society will possess the next-
level comfort by saving time, energy and costs which leads to a sustainable
project.
 Impact of Grab services on the environment and society.
4. Regulations

The Ministry of Transport of Vietnam stated a new regulation in 2016 which is the
vehicles providing taxi services via Grab are to set up a light container on the top of
their vehicles with words “TAXI E”. The Grab cabs are supposed to give the detailed
information of them to the customers such as the plate number of the vehicle,
stopping place, the distance and estimated times of the beginning and arriving of a
ride, charges and the name of the company of cabs. [ CITATION Vie16 \l 1033 ]

For vehicles providing private rental services from software, three major legislations
are stated by the government in Singapore. The first statement is that it is a must for
every motorist working for rental services to own a specific Private Hire Car Driver`s
Vocational Licence. To possess it, the motorists have to complete ten hours of
lectures and pass the test. Another one is that the vehicles providing rental services
must attach obvious symbols on both the rare and the head screens featuring that
they are legally authorized rental vehicles. This process aims for the effective
elimination of illegal services. For example, vehicles providing rental services which
are not legally authorized and rental vehicles providing taxi services. The third
statement is that the rental service vehicles are forbidden to station and pull over at
the taxi stands. [CITATION Glo \l 1033 ]

5. Review of Literature

The E-softwares are playing a vital role in every field as technology develops day by
day. Nowadays, Grab services are widely used in South-East Asian countries. Along
with the broad application, the services must be upgraded and new services should
be developed. For example, the service must be available in any place such as
countrysides and villages. Besides, the privacy and safety of clients are extremely
important. Since Grab is an E-software, cyberattacks can interrupt services and steal
personal information of clients. [ CITATION Gra202 \l 1033 ]

The methods to improve Grab services will be critically analyzed in this project. The
comparison of benefits and defects of utilizing Grab services will also be carried out
in this paper so that the disadvantages can be eliminated. [CITATION Bue18 \l 1033 ]
Besides, newly developed ideas will be described in this study. The facts how Grab
services affect the society and environment are also going to be expressed in this
research.

6. Research Methodology

The following methods are going to be utilized for the research of this project.

 To get the data of Grab services, Zoom meeting will be arranged with the
manager of Grab company during the stay at home order.
 After the stay at home order, a face to face interview will be carried out with
the manager from Grab company.
  In addition, interviews with the Grab users and drivers will also be
implemented.
 By exploring research papers from the internet, some of the required data will
be collected.
 Interviewing traffic police in Myanmar.
7. Data Requirements

The demands to carry out this research are the instructions, statistics and working
processes of Grab services, related information such as research, journal articles,
magazines and online electronic statics, survey information, a computer and a
phone to take photos and record interviews.

8. Problems

Due to Covid-19 cases in Myanmar, the government has announced a stay at home
order and the offices are still closed. There might be some delays and difficulties for
the collection of data which might lead to a problem to carry out this project.
Additionally, the lack of principles and regulations of Grab services can become
barriers to accomplish this project.

9. Data Analysis

From the statistics obtained from Grab, the services will be evaluated and
summarized. From personal interviews and surveys, the working processes and
customer feedback will be featured and qualitative analysis will be carried out on this
project. From the surveys and interviews, the unfortunate incidents and conducts of
the Grab users are going to be examined by way of quantitative analysis. New ideas
about services will be recommended and developed which will lead the Grab
services to the higher standards.
 10. Schedule of the project

Processes Date of beginning Due Date % of completion

Proposal of the project 8th October 2020 23rd October 2020 100%
Research Data 18th October 2020 15th November 2020 10%
Assignment writing 16th November 2020 20th December 2020 0%
Interviewing, 21st December 2020 22nd January 2021 0%
surveying, data
gathering, coursework
Data analysis and 15th January 2021 1st February 2021 0%
assignment writing
Assignment writing, 2nd February 19th March 2021 0%
comparison,
recommendation and
further work

11. Conclusion

Grab provides services through modern technology which makes the life of society
easier. As a developing country, Myanmar requires a particular development in the
application of technology. Grab can not only provide services but also help to upraise
the economy of countries. Grab had also provided nine million jobs to the people in the
SEA region. Additionally, the governments in each country are trying to announce
statements relating to Grab services so that the safety and privacy of the customers will
be protected. Pieces of advice to make the processes and services can be achieved
from the feedbacks. During the Covid-19 outbreak, Grab services are the handiest and
most suitable ones to be utilized as the payment can be done via online banking with no
contact payment. Summing up, Grab services are efficient and uncomplicated which
leads to lower the consumption of energy, time and budget. So, it can be said as an
organization sustainably providing services.

12. References
Buendia, E. D., 2018. Techacute. [Online]
Available at: https://techacute.com/grab-buys-uber-in-southeast-asia-advantages-and-
disadvantages-for-commuters/
[Accessed 21 October 2020].

Gloria James-Civetta & CO, 2020. Gloria James-Civetta & CO. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gjclaw.com.sg/articles/new-laws-grab-uber-drivers/
[Accessed 11 October 2020].

Grab, 2019. Overcoming COVID-19 together, Yangon: Grab.

Grab, 2020. Grab. [Online]

Available at: https://www.grab.com/mm/en/
[Accessed 20 October 2020].

Grab, 2020. Grab. [Online]

Available at: https://www.grab.com/mm/en/terms-policies/privacy-policy/
[Accessed 21 October 2020].

O'Toole, Jay; Matherne, Brett;, 2017. Uber: Aggressive management for growth. The
CASE Journal , 13(4), p. 4.

Pascale, A., 2019. Worldwide Partners. [Online]

Available at: https://www.worldwidepartners.com/blog/201911060000/grab-app-
technology-for-social-good
[Accessed 11 October 2020].

Vietnam Law & Legal Forum Magazine, 2016. Uber and Grab taxis to be under legal
control, Hanoi: Vietnam Law and Legal Forum Magazine.