China’s Didi Global says ride-hailing app had ‘systems malfunction’

SHANGHAI/BEIJING :Didi Global said on Monday its ride-hailing app had experienced a “systems malfunction” after users in multiple cities including Beijing and Shanghai said they were unable to book rides in the evening.

The company apologised for the issue on its official Weibo account and said it was urgently trying to fix it.

Drivers and passengers began complaining about the issue around 10:30 p.m. local time (1430 GMT). Posts on Weibo, which reveals the locations of users, indicated that it was happening in several provinces, from eastern Zhejiang to northern Jilin.

The app began allowing bookings around an hour later, though some complained it was still slow, and it continued to intermittently show systems issues while long queues formed for rides.

Didi is China’s largest ride-hailing company, with its service in the country delivering average daily transactions of 31.3 million in the third quarter.