World Bank taps GrabTaxi to address Asia traffic woes
MANILA — The World Bank has tapped GrabTaxi to help address traffic congestion and road safety in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.
The partnership involves the use of an award-winning, open-source data platform, Open-Traffic, in monitoring traffic conditions real-time and collecting travel time data in select cities, such as Cebu, Davao and Manila (Philippines); Jakarta (Indonesia); and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam).
GrabTaxi, which is Southeast Asia’s largest taxi-booking mobile phone app, will provide the service to local governments in the above cities at no cost.
As a result, governments can make better, evidence-based decisions that previously had been out of reach – including decisions about traffic signal timing plans, public transit provisions, roadway infrastructure needs, emergency traffic management, and travel demand management.
“We are honored to partner with the World Bank on this exciting initiative to revolutionize public transport in Southeast Asia. We are a social startup and this partnership will drive GrabTaxi closer towards our social mission to significantly improve the lives of our drivers and passengers -- and ultimately change the way 620 million people move in Southeast Asia," Anthony Tan, GrabTaxi founder and Group chief executive said.
More than 70,000 taxi drivers across the region have registered with GrabTaxi, which forecasts that one in two taxi drivers will be on its network by yearend.