THE Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Public Transport Council (PTC) are investigating an incident that caused Grab to overcharge Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates for more than 60,000 trips booked on its ride-hailing application.

ERP is the toll that vehicles pay when driving through certain expressways. Its rates are reviewed regularly to keep traffic moving at an optimal speed.

In a statement on Friday (Dec 22), LTA and PTC said that the error was discovered after they directed Grab to go through its data to identify trips in which passengers were overcharged, after the authorities received a number of passenger complaints.

Grab eventually found that outdated ERP rates were applied when the platform calculated the fares for 60,787 trips from Nov 20 to Dec 4.

This error affected 40,431 passengers, with the excess ERP charges collected generally ranging from S$1 to S$3 for the large majority of these passengers, the authorities pointed out.

With the discovery, Grab told the authorities that the ERP charges have been corrected in its backend system and that action has been taken to reimburse all affected passengers.

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When announcing that they would be investigating the incident, LTA and PTC said that operators of ride-hail services are responsible for ensuring that accurate fares are charged to passengers. 

The authorities meanwhile said that they appreciate the public’s assistance in reporting any instances of overcharging or fare irregularities. “This helps us maintain a reliable and trustworthy transportation network for all,” they added.