Uber To Issue Refunds Following Price Surge During Sydney Train Outage

Uber have issued hundreds of dollars in refunds after commuters were charged exorbitant prices after trains were brought to a standstill across Sydney on Thursday.

Thousands of people were forced to seek alternative modes of transport yesterday after a technical issue across the Sydney trains network.

People were forced to catch taxis, ferries and Ubers with fare pricing surging to up to $500.

Surges were most expensive during peak hour with a trip from North Sydney to Sutherland Shire costing $280 and a trip from Sydney CBD to Mount Annan costing $500.

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The price increase was met with plenty of backlash including some stern words from Transport Minister David Elliott.

"I'm absolutely disgusted that Uber have decided to take advantage of an unfortunate situation in Sydney," he said.

In response to the uproar, Uber issued a public apology for the outrageous pricing.

"While in the past we have been alerted by Transport for NSW when there were Sydney-wide transport issues, in this instance we had no warning that there would be such a complete outage on the NSW trains network," a spokesperson said.

"As soon as we became aware of what was happening, our teams immediately lowered surge that aimed to still incentivise those driver-partners who were helping Sydneysiders get home, while making rides more affordable for those stranded.

The rideshare giant then promised to issue refunds to anyone charged above the surge price.

"For riders charged an additional amount above that surge cap they will be auto refunded within the next 48 hours."

- Uber

The Sydney train system’s communication tech went down at around 3PM on Wednesday causing an accumulation of commuters coming from both school and work.

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