ComfortDelGro app, taxi-booking phone line down due to 'surge in volume'

SINGAPORE: ComfortDelGro’s customers and drivers were unable to access the taxi operator's mobile application and call booking service on Saturday afternoon (May 7) due to a technical fault. 

“Our app and call booking services started experiencing a technical fault due to a surge in booking volume at about 1pm today," said ComfortDelGro Corporation's group chief branding and communications officer Tammy Tan in response to CNA's queries. 

"We have since rectified the problem and both booking services are now up and running."

ComfortDelGro, Singapore's largest taxi operator, said in a Facebook post at about 6.20pm that app and call booking services are back to normal.

"We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused. Do note that we are expecting high booking volume this weekend and seek your patience and understanding," it added.

Ms Tan said ComfortDelGro is closely monitoring the situation.

A customer told CNA that she faced issues with the app at about 1.15pm. She had to hail a taxi to travel from Katong to Hougang after being unable to book one. 

“There was no way to even book a cab, so we were depending on street hail,” said the customer who only wanted to be known as Mrs Saviour. “The app couldn’t even get my location at first.”

Mrs Saviour added that she uninstalled and reinstalled the app, but it still showed an error message saying there was a problem with the server connection.

The booking hotline was also down when CNA tried calling at about 4.30pm.

ComfortDelGro, Singapore's largest taxi operator, recently relaunched its mobile app under a new name, CDG Zig. It combines the taxi booking application and the company's now-decommissioned lifestyle application Zig.