A young GrabHitch driver was left befuddled after his first attempt to pick up a rider on the way home from school was canceled by a picky passenger.
The Ngee Ann Polytechnic student recounted on the Singapore GrabHitch Zone Facebook group to his fellow drivers about his first experience accepting a hitch request. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to go so well, according to his text exchange with the passenger, who unfairly found fault with his youth and the quality of his car — a 2009 Hyundai Getz 1.1L hatchback.
It’s important to know that GrabHitch is not an on-demand, commercial ride-hailing service — it’s more of a social carpooling service where GrabHitch drivers pick up passengers who are going along the same route as their destination. In other words, the GrabHitch driver is simply using his/her personal car for a regular commute; you’re just there along for the ride and pay a basic fare to cover petrol costs.
Joel Soon, however, didn’t even get to pick up his passenger — and probably for the better too. After school on Monday, he accepted a hitch request from a person who needed to get to Nanyang Technological University to attend his/her cousin’s convocation. Not only did the passenger complained that Soon’s car is “too small, cramped, uncomfortable”, but the student was also accused of not having driving experience.
“…if you Hitch drivers want to hitch, please make sure you all have a proper car that lets people feel safe and comfortable to ride on — not any simple budget cheap car because not only people will feel cheap travelling in such a vehicle, but there’s also the issue of comfort level,” the passenger texted Soon, adding that he/she has complained to Grab about it.
Just, wow. Soon has the patience of a saint not to engage with the passenger.
Fellow GrabHitch drivers assured Soon that the passenger is very much an asshole, and that the student did nothing wrong.
Punctilious prick
This incident sounds way too similar to a picky passenger encountered by another GrabHitch driver and a Rydepool driver. As Mothership reported, a woman had a particular vendetta against “small” and “old” cars. Like Soon’s experience, the two other drivers also faced unfair rebukes over the quality of their vehicles.
According to an anecdote by GrabHitch driver, the fussy woman even had a written list of “inferior” car models — presumably, so she would know which drivers to cancel on.
