Getting around Puerto Princesa without Grab

You cannot book a Grab car or motorbike in Puerto Princesa yet. GrabFood has delivered in the city since October 2025, which is why the app opens and shows restaurants. On 30 September 2026 the city government said Grab was still building its delivery network and getting vehicles through "the necessary process" for its transport services. Until rides go live, the tricycle is the system.

The reason it does not matter is that the tricycle network is genuinely dense, runs 24 hours at the airport, and is cheap enough that the difference between a fair fare and a tourist fare is about the price of a coffee. Nobody here is running a meter scam because there are effectively no meters and effectively no taxis.

What else exists: airport taxis and vans, which ask several times the tricycle price for the same ten-minute ride. Negotiate, or walk out to the road and hail a tricycle. And free hotel shuttles, which many midrange properties run and which settle the question for anyone staying above the pension tier. The Grab page tracks the launch and says what would count as one.

There are two modes and confusing them is what makes people think they were overcharged: pasakay (shared, per person, fixed route) and special (chartered, whole vehicle, straight to your door).

On pasakay you flag one down, say where you are going, and it takes you along with whoever else is heading that way, stopping as it goes. That is the ₱12–25 fare. On special you are hiring the whole machine and it goes direct — that is the ₱100–150 airport run and the ₱600–1,200 half-day charter. A driver quoting ₱150 for a two-kilometre hop is quoting you special; ask for pasakay if you do not mind sharing.

The airport fare is the one that confuses everyone, because two different real numbers circulate. Sharing on the ordinance fare, the 3 km into town costs a passenger little more than the ₱12 minimum. Take the tricycle to yourself with bags and you are on a special trip, where drivers typically ask ₱100–150 for the whole vehicle — which is what a visitor with a suitcase will realistically pay. Drivers are required to display their association's fare matrix inside the sidecar; ask to see it, agree the price before you get in, and it is a non-issue.

Practicalities: 3–4 passengers maximum, minimal luggage space, cash only, and 24-hour availability at the airport rank. Drivers here do not honk, do not hustle, and will usually tell you if a multicab would be cheaper. Round the fare up as a tip; nobody expects it and everybody appreciates it.

₱500–700 a day, or about ₱800 for a newer 155cc. A licence is required and helmets are mandatory. This is the single best upgrade to a Puerto Princesa trip if you already ride.

Sabang is a genuinely good ride — 76 km over the karst ridge, two hours at a sensible pace, on a paved road with real views. Riding it beats sitting in a tour van, and it gets you to Sabang outside the 10:00 convoy window. Nagtabon at 30 km and Napsan at 1.5–2 hours are the other two obvious runs.

El Nido on a scooter is a two-day adventure for confident riders only. It is 280 km of paved but winding highway with an average vehicle speed of about 50 km/h, and doing it in one push is how people get hurt. If you want to move north, read Puerto Princesa to El Nido by van or bus and hire a scooter when you arrive.

Fuel is easy in the city and on the highway; it thins out west of Nagtabon and south of Narra. Fill up before you turn off the National Highway, and remember there is no phone signal at Nagtabon.

Everything else in the city is cheaper than a tricycle and less convenient, in exactly that proportion.

Multicabs and jeepneys run fixed routes along Rizal Avenue and the National Highway on LTFRB-regulated distance fares, posted inside the vehicle. The LTFRB's latest fare increase took effect on 28 September 2026 (it took the traditional-jeepney minimum from ₱13 to ₱14 for the first 4 km), so fares quoted in older guides may now be a peso or two low. They are the sensible way to reach SM City and the San Jose terminal, and the only downside is that they stop constantly and have no aircon.

E-trikes: you may see electric tricycles downtown. They are quieter than the two-strokes, but treat them as a pleasant thing that happens rather than a network you can plan around.

A car with a driver can be arranged through your hotel. Ask for the day rate in writing before you commit and say exactly where you are going. For most people a chartered tricycle at ₱600–1,200 does the same job in the city, and a tour van does the same job on the highway.