Optus outage causes commuter chaos as cost for an Uber surges before price cap implemented

UPDATE: Customers are reporting that some services are coming back online. Read more here.

EARLIER: A widespread Optus outage has caused commuting chaos, with Uber prices temporarily rising across Australia before a cap was imposed.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Optus customers will have no service.

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The telecommunications outage is affecting millions of people across the country, causing major delays for commuters and impacting the healthcare system.

According to Downdetector, reports of the outage started around 4 a.m. on Wednesday.

Optus network issues have been reported across the country in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide.

Uber prices across the country have been affected, with a ride from Werribee to Melbourne’s CBD costing almost triple what Uber normally estimates it should cost for the city.

Uber prices increase when more rides are requested than there are available drivers. This is intended to attract more drivers to the area, but the outage means many regular drivers are unable to access the Uber app to accept fares.

“We are experiencing impacts to Uber’s service following the Optus outage,” Uber confirms.

“We are proactively encouraging driver partners to get online to keep Australia moving wherever possible.”

A limit was placed on price increases as soon as Uber became aware of the outage and its impact, the company said.

It comes as Melbourne’s entire train network was shut down due to the disruption.

Services have now resumed, but major delays are expected.

“Train services have resumed on the Metro network following an earlier communications outage,” Metro Trains said.

“There are major delays on all lines as we restore services with selected changes and cancellations.

“Listen to announcements and check displays.”

7NEWS understands that the temporary closure was due to safety concerns arising from the inability for operators to communicate with each other and their depots.

Optus first noticed the outage at 4.05am, Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin told ABC Radio Sydney.

There have been a series of restoration efforts, she said.

“There are no indications at this time that it has anything to do with spyware,” she said.

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