Grab fares topping US$1,000 stun Singapore ride-hailing users

[SINGAPORE] Singapore ride-hailing users got a rude shock on Wednesday (Aug 20) after prices on the most popular app jumped about a hundred times from the usual rates, with short trips within the city costing US$1,000 or more.

Grab Holdings’ ride-hailing app showed fares in the hundreds or thousands of dollars briefly early afternoon in its home base of Singapore, with users in neighbouring Malaysia also reporting similar increases.

A Grab spokesperson attributed the elevated rates to a temporary display glitch. Fares went back to normal as of about 12.20 pm Singapore time.

Grab, which is backed by Uber Technologies, is the leading ride provider in its home market and countries including Malaysia and Thailand. Uber left the region in 2018 in exchange for a stake in Grab, which is now locked in fierce competition against Indonesia’s GoTo Group and other smaller rivals.

“We encountered a temporary system issue that led to abnormally high prices being wrongly displayed in our app,” Grab said in a statement. “The issue has been resolved, and the app is now functioning as usual. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused.” BLOOMBERG