Uber is accused of price gouging desperate Sydney residents as fares surge while trains go into meltdown over ‘communication issues’
- Trains in Sydney stopped on Wednesday
- Uber prices shot up at the same time
Commuters in Sydney faced a transport crisis with Uber prices surging as trains around the city came to a standstill.
The entire Sydney trains network came to a complete stop during the afternoon rush on Wednesday.
When trains are down, Sydneysiders often opt to catch an Uber home but unexpected price rises saw many decide to wait out the train crisis or catch a bus.
Customers said Ubers were charging up to $90 for trips across the city.
One commuter posted a screenshot of a trip from the middle of the city to Bondi that was charging $88.21.
Uber customers around Sydney said their usual trips had skyrocketed in price to coincide with the train closure (pictured, the cost of an Uber from the CBD to Marrickville on Wednesday)
Trains around Sydney came to a complete standstill during the afternoon rush on Wednesday (pictured, commuters piling onto alternative Light Rail services on Wednesday)
Another said her usual $20 Uber trip home was going to cost an astounding $216.
A third frustrated commuter shared a photo of an Uber booking from the CBD to Marrickville that was going to cost up to $77.17.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Uber for comment.
The unexpected prices saw thousands of commuters stay at the stations or cram into small bus an light rail alternatives.
The chaos started at about 2.45pm when the computer screens at Central Station, in the city’s CBD, went completely blank instead of showing when the next scheduled trains would arrive.
There was similar trouble at Wynyard Station where travellers were turned away from the gates due to the network being down.
Sydney Trains shared a warning to customers on Twitter at 3.50pm, saying: ‘Trains are not running due a train communication issue affecting the whole network.
‘Please use alternate travel options where possible. We expect this to continue into afternoon peak services, updates to follow.’
The system has since been rebooted and trains have started running again more than an hour after the outage began.
At about 2.45pm the computer screens at trains stations around Sydney went blank (above)
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