Grab users face problem with ride-hailing platform's mobile app

Grab users experienced problems while booking a ride on the platform's mobile app on Wednesday morning (19 December).

At 8:21am, Grab posted on its Facebook page that it was "experiencing a service interruption, which may result in your Grab app not functioning as expected".

Forty minutes later, it updated its post to clarify that there had been a partial service disruption which affected some users. Grab also apologised for any inconvenience caused. In response to queries from The Straits Times, a Grab spokesman said that the issue was fully resolved in about an hour. They added that they are looking into compensation for affected drivers, and would keep working to making their services better.

Customers complained on social media about delays when trying to book rides, while others said the system was down. Facebook user Grayson Poh said that the issue began at 7:00am and it took him more than 20 minutes to book a Grab ride. Ms. Kelly Chow tweeted to the company at 8:33am that the app was glitchy. She added, "I couldn't select my locations, only worked after 20 minutes. My Grab driver also shared that he couldn't use his app properly as well and there were no customer notifications for one hour."

Grab users in other countries around Singapore also experienced issues around the same time. A check on Grab's Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand Twitter accounts showed that staff had posted updates about the disruption in those countries and apologised to customers who had highlighted the issue to them on the platform. Users overseas also uploaded screenshots showing that the app would not load, had error messages popping up saying that the app could not connect to the server or that the server reported an error. The Straits Times has contacted Grab for more details.