SINGAPORE: Ride-hailing app Grab was hit by a technical issue during the Thursday morning (Mar 1) rush hour affecting its GrabPay mobile wallet payment system.
“We’re experiencing a technical issue and may only be able to accept cash rides right now,” read a notification on the app.
In a Facebook post at 8.25am, the company said its engineers were looking into the issue and “we expect to be back up in 30 minutes”.
In an update at about 9.20am, Grab apologised for the inconvenience.
“You can now book rides using cash and GrabPay linked cards. We are still working on GrabPay Credits and Rewards,” the company said.
“Rest assured your balances will reappear in app once we do!”
Commuters took to social media to express their frustration, on a morning which also saw delays on the Downtown Line due to a signalling fault.
“Hello grab! I already put money in my credits last night and now i can’t get to work!” wrote Facebook user Marr Sakiynah R Giri.
“My wallet credits are all gone! Is this supposed to be normal?” wrote another Facebook user Andrew Tan. In another Facebook comment he added that ride prices had surged to “unusually high” figures.
“S$42 instead of the usual S$14. Is Grab capitalising on such an opportunity?” he wrote.
Twitter user Ifrah Ashiblie wrote that when she tried to use GrabPay there were “errors galore”.
“I was forced to use Uber,” she said.
Drivers also took to social media to complain about a lack of passengers and problems with their driver’s wallets.
“I had more than S$90 in my GrabHitch driver’s wallet last night. I did not cash out. Today becomes S$0 with no past transactions found. Ride history remains though,” wrote Ng Soo Horng in a post on a Facebook community page for GrabHitch drivers.
He posted a screengrab showing a virtual wallet without any funds in it.
Another Grab driver who did not want to be named said he was affected by the technical issues since he started driving at around 6am. He said he was not able to get any passengers until about three hours later.
