Singapore, Malaysia Grab users stunned as fares exceed $1,100 due to system error

In Singapore, the unusually high fares were reported by some users at around noon on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.

Screenshots quickly spread online, including one in the Complaint Singapore Facebook group showing a 20-minute ride from Changi Airport Terminal 2 to Punggol priced at S$1,516.

Similarly, AsiaOne reported that a 10-minute drive from Boon Keng to Middle Road would have cost more than S$1,500.

Across the border, Malaysian users also shared similar experiences, with several seeing fares of over RM1,500 (US$355) for rides that normally cost less than RM50, according to The Sun.

The unreasonable fares, which Grab later explained were due to a "system error," were fixed within 20 minutes, but not before it sparked both surprise and amusement online.

Screenshots show unusually high Grab fares posted by users on social media. Photo from Facebook, Reddit

On Facebook, a user named Tan Kwee Yong quipped that a trip between two military camps in Singapore would have eaten up "a quarter of my pay," after his fare was shown as S$1,511.80.

Meanwhile, a Reddit user in Malaysia posted a screenshot of a 14-kilometer ride priced at RM1,516, which cost just around RM17 once the issue was fixed.

"With that price I expect a private jet to come and pick me up," one user responded.

Another wondered about who the potential driver could be: "Harvard graduate, maybe? Can speak up to 10 languages?"

A Grab spokesperson said the company’s safeguards managed to block most of the inflated fares, though a few slipped through and were later refunded.

"We are doing everything to learn from this so it doesn’t happen again. Our customers trust us with their daily needs, and we don’t take this for granted," the spokesperson said, as quoted by The Straits Times.

Headquartered in Singapore, Grab is the leading ride-hailing operator in the city-state, as well as in Malaysia and Thailand.