SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Public Transport Council (PTC) issued a statement on Friday (Dec 22), saying that more than 40,000 customers who used the Grab app to get a ride between Nov 20 and Dec 4 had been overcharged.
The app had used outdated Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates during this time, applying the wrong rates to 60,787 trips. The two agencies were alerted to overcharged rates when some passengers provided feedback.
“Having established that this was due to inaccurate ERP charges being applied to fares, LTA directed Grab to go through all their trip data to identify other trips where passengers might have been similarly overcharged and to take relevant corrective measures,” the joint statement reads.
The two agencies said that 40,431 passengers had been subject to excess ERP charges, generally ranging from S$1 to S$3, adding that they understand that Grab has updated its backend system to reflect the correct charges and that the company has reimbursed the affected passengers.
ERP rates had been reduced by S$1 for certain time windows in gantries at 10 expressway locations for the duration of the school holidays in Singapore, which run from Nov 20 to Dec 31, the LTA had announced on Nov 15.
“While Grab had earlier scheduled a revision to the ERP rates for these gantries, a temporary backend syncing issue prevented the Automated ERP feature from populating the updated rates,” a spokesperson for the company is quoted as saying in a CNA report.
This glitch caused overcharging on the trips that went through the gantries with reduced rates, though the spokesperson said that only “a very small percentage” from Nov 20 to Dec 4 had been affected. The company said that the error has since been corrected and that the passengers who had been overcharged were informed and reimbursed.
Grab added, “We sincerely apologise to consumers for the inconvenience caused.”
Nevertheless, the incident is being investigated by LTA and PTC, and the agencies have said that ride-hailing services are responsible for ensuring that their passengers are charged the correct fees.
The statement from LTA and PTC said that individuals who have been overcharged or have issues with the fares may report them through the contact form at https://www.lta.gov.sg/feedback or via the e-service “Report Vehicle-Related Offences” at www.onemotoring.lta.gov.sg.
Passengers should include specifics regarding the incident, including its time and date and the vehicle’s registration plate number.
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