Karl Stefanovic loses it at Uber’s ‘disgusting act’ as Sydney’s transport system goes into meltdown and the ride-sharing app breaks its silence
- Today show host weighs into transport chaos
- Branded rideshare’s response as disgusting
- Named Uber ‘Australia’s worst company of the year’
Karl Stefanovic has unleashed a furious tirade about Uber being the ‘worst company of the year’ after it hiked up its fares as Australia’s biggest city’s transport system went into meltdown.
Sydney‘s public transport system was plunged into chaos during Wednesday’s peak afternoon after the city railway’s system came to abrupt halt for almost two hours when the network radio system failed.
With thousands of commuters stranded without a way to get home, the popular ride-sharing app’s fares surged to exorbitant prices.
A booking from the CBD to inner-city Marrickville was quoted at $77.17 while a similar job to Bondi was $88.21.
The Today host slammed the rideshare company as ‘Australia’s worst company of the year’ on Thursday morning.
‘When the country’s largest city, the most populous, is down and out with a massive train outage, it’s people already struggling with the burden of interest rates and cost of living pressures, Uber swings into action offering all of their resources to get the city moving again,’ Stefanovic’s rant began.
‘Just selfless stuff. Well, not quite. What does Uber do? It gouges hard-working Aussies.
‘And not just a little bit. Trips that would normally take $38 surging to more than $500 yesterday.’
Uber has since promised refunds to customers who believe they were ripped off. But Stefanovic wasn’t convinced.
‘Are they kidding themselves? It is disgusting what Uber did yesterday!’ he fumed.
Karl Stefanovic awarded Uber the title’ of ‘Australia’s worst company of the year’
Thousands of Sydneysiders were left stranded after the train network system came to a standstill. Pictured are the crowds at Central station
Stefanovic wasn’t the only one to slam Uber.
‘I’m absolutely disgusted that Uber have decided to take advantage of an unfortunate situation in Sydney,’ NSW transport minister David Elliott said.
Queensland Senator Matt Canavan told the Today show: ‘It is like charging a thirsty man in the desert $100 for a bottle of water, where is the empathy from these large companies?’
‘This is a huge company, they are not some little mum and dad shop down the street – Taxis can’t triple or quadruple price in these types of events so how can Uber get away with it?’
Uber insists the company took a ‘proactive’ approach to the shutdown and urged its drivers to go online and help commuters.
‘As soon as we were made aware of the Sydney trains disruption, we proactively communicated to driver-partners to let them know about the increased rider demand and encourage them to come online and help provide a ride to those who need one,’ a spokesperson said.
‘We also placed a cap on dynamic pricing to ensure it didn’t continue to increase while the disruption continued.’
Uber customers around Sydney said their usual trips had skyrocketed in price to coincide with the train closure. Pictured is an example of Uber’s ‘proactive’ response to the shutdown
