Ola News and Updates

[rahul1117kumar]

Taxi-hailing app Ola has introduced a new service - Ola Rentals - aimed squarely at corporate users and working executives for easy intra city travel.

Ola Rentals allows corporate users to have a cab at their disposal throughout the day so that they can easily move from one place to the other for back to back meetings, local sightseeing, or shopping trips, without having to book a cab again and again.

The service comes with hourly packages of Ola Lux, Ola Prime Sedan & SUV, and Ola Mini. The integration of Ola Rentals and Ola Corporate is aimed at making booking and reimbursement easy for business customers.

It comes with the same in-app safety features like SOS button and live tracking of rides similar to regular Ola rides.

Ola Rentals is currently available in 35 cities and will soon be rolled out to 100 cities across India.

http://m.moneycontrol.com/news/business/ola-announces-new-rentals-service-for-intra-city-travel_7253261.html

 

[rahul1117kumar]

In a bid to provide people an opportunity to enjoy luxury travel on the roads, BMW India and Ola on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bring on-demand luxury mobility in India. BMW is now the “Lux Category Partner” for Ola. Ola “Lux” is one-of-its-kind luxury car service, available for booking at a minimum fare of Rs 250 and Rs 20-22 per/km afterwards. The category also allows customers to book the cars on an hourly basis via its “Rentals” feature.

“The way people move is changing and this is also true for the premium clientele. Individuals want quick access to mobility without compromising on quality and comfort,” said Frank Schloeder, President (act.), BMW Group India, in a statement. To begin with, Ola will induct the BMW cars into its fleet across three cities – Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, and the service will later be extended to more locations. “We look forward to growing our association with BMW and taking the Ola ‘Lux’ service to a greater scale throughout the country,” added Pranay Jivrajka, Chief Operating Officer, Ola.

BMW joins Ola Cabs’ luxury car fleet, minimum fares at Rs 250

 

[rahul1117kumar]

Ola cabs is set to launch ‘One-Way’ trip fares on Ola Outstation to improve the affordability and convenience. Customers can book “Ola Outstation” at reduced fares using the ‘One-way’ fares without having to pay for the round trip that they will not make.

This move is part of Ola’s effort to scale up to connect more than 500 cities across the country using the Outstation offering.

The ‘One-way’ trips have been rolled out in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Banglore, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Kanpur at the time or writing.
According to officials, the number of cities will grow considerably in next two months. In addition to the ‘One-way’ fare, Ola also allows the users to pre-book their riders up to two days in advance. According to the company, the Outstation offering has seen a month-on-month growth of about 50 percent within five months of the launch.

“Ola Outstation is a ‘Made for India’ solution, bringing the unique Ola experience to inter-city travel, with the same level of convenience and reliability. Through Ola Outstation, we are structuring the fragmented outstation travel segment like never before. With the introduction of ‘One-way’ trip fares, we are bringing increased affordability, from the efficiencies of scale that our platform has built,” added Raghuvesh Sarup, CMO and Head of Categories, Ola.

Ola cabs to introduce 'One-Way' trip fares for Outstation trips Tech2 Mobile

 

[hike]

Wow! That's going to be gr8

 

[rahul1117kumar]

In order to make payments easier for its customers, Ola has finally added the option to pay through debit or credit cards. Till now, the ride-sharing service had been only allowing users to pay either by cash or by using Ola Money which is the company’s own e-wallet. With the addition of the new payment methods, Ola now seeks to compete better with its arch rival Uber that offers support for multiple payment options including third-party e-wallet services such as Paytm.

The Ola app version 4.2.4 now comes with a new option to add credit or debit card for payment. To add your credit or debit card details, go to the payments option under the hamburger icon and fill in the required information. Once you have successfully added this payment option, the next time you hail a cab from Ola, you will be able to choose from this payment option. While currently Ola’s support page doesn’t list the new credit or debit card option, an update to the app highlights it as the newly added feature.

The move towards to a cashless economy comes in light of the government’s demonetization of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Following the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, e-wallets witnessed record surge in overall traffic. For services like Ola and Uber, the time is like a new-found opportunity to further penetrate into the industry and offer never-before like services.

To further facilitate easy payments, Ola recently introduced ‘Ola Credit’, its postpaid payment option for select customers. With Ola Credit, users can avail ride services without immediately having to pay for them. The system gives users seven days of credit so that they can book Ola cabs without having to pay at the end of the ride. Users can enjoy cashless rides and pay for the credit using net banking, debit or credit cards or through the Ola Money e-wallet. In order to avail the facility, users need to select ‘Ola Credit’ in their payment option settings while booking a ride. A user can avail the cashless rides based on their usage and settle the credit as per their convenience within a week. As the company explains, the 7-day credit cycle begins from the date of the first credit ride. It is to be noted that the credit will be extended to users on a select basis based on their transaction or ride-hailing history.

As part of its fight to emerge as the market leader, this week Ola also introduced what it calls the world’s first in-car entertainment system for ride-sharing, Dubbed Ola Play, the system allows users to take control of their hired car’s entertainment system and play their choice of music, watch videos, read e-books, look for shopping destinations enroute their journey and do much more for an immersive and personalized in-car experience. The Ola Play system further uses the customer’s previous preferences and ride details to offer personalized recommendations for content. The feature is currently available with only Ola Prime vehicles which come with offer free Wi-Fi service inside the car. It has been rolled out in select cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi for select customers and will be gradually rolled out to other cities and over 50,000 vehicles by March 2017.

http://www.bgr.in/news/ola-adds-ano...s-you-pay-through-your-credit-or-debit-cards/

 

[Bapun]

Source

In a video announcing Ola Pedal, the company says customers will be able to locate and book cycles near them. The video also says Pedal will utilise an “Aadhaar integrated solution” with the visuals of a user unlocking the bicycle with their fingerprint.

Ola launches bicycle sharing service 'Pedal' for short distance trips

 

[Kiran Reddy]

Wow I liked the concept a lot

Hope they launch soon in Hyderabad.

 

[Bapun]

The partnership with Ola will allow us to further consolidate markets where it strategically makes sense to collaborate with leading local players. At the same time, we consider our stake in Ola as a very valuable asset, while Ola's investment commitment in Foodpanda India is a clear and confident signal to the Indian market.

Ola acquires Foodpanda, pumps in $200M: will it now take on Uber in the food delivery space?

 

[Sarkar]

That's good So we will have our lunch ready in Cab, no more waiting in restaurant

 

[Bapun]

Ola plans to go big on electric vehicles; may launch e-rickshaws soon