Founded by Bhavish Aggarwal; Olacabs.com is a marketplace for all types of cabs, cars and now auto-rickshaw rentals.
Once anyone enters their requirement on the app; it searches through its available inventory of their partners and comes back with a list of options at different prices from different operators. One can see Ola’s ratings of that operator, what other customers have said about them and then can book it. If not that; then one can also call Ola and they help through the process!
- OLA as a company, only works with valid permit holder drivers which are duly authorized & verified by the Transport Authorities. These drivers are independent and they either drive their own commercial vehicles, or work for an Operator with multiple cars.
- Just like Ola’s customers have an Ola app to book a vehicle; similarly, these drivers too have a Drivers app on their smart phones. This app is activated after a thorough check of authenticity and the commercial & personal papers of the driver & operator; is completed.
- These drivers are not controlled by Ola and they decide their own login or logout time to the application or acceptance of requests for rides from customers.
- All major credit cards, debit cards, cash cards and net banking are accepted by Ola
- One does not require any kind of registration on the app or website to book their service and can also do so for absolutely anyone.
- If the vehicle doesn’t show up, then a full refund is provided immediately.
- If anyone wishes to cancel their booking, they can do so at any time. If the cancellation is done 48 hours before the booked time then there is no charge, if it is done between 24 – 48 hours before the booked time then 50% of the advance amount is charged and lastly, if cancelled is done between 0 – 24 hours before the booked time then 100% of the advance amount is charged.
Latest Updates
Ola Cabs earlier this month completed one of its biggest acquisitions of, one of its biggest competitors – TaxiForSure, for a whooping $200 million (INR 1,240 crores approx).
Till now; Ola only worked with the Drivers to provide its services but with their latest acquisition, which is clearly an attempt to increase its strengths, it will also be working together with the cab operators with the help of TaxiForSure.
With this acquisition in place; Ola has now announced the launch of their latest feature of “Cashless Rides” on their platform. The beauty of this add-on is that, it not only works with the cabs on their network, but has also been extended to “Auto rickshaws and Kaali-Peeli taxis” as well!
Evidently, Autos and Kaali-Peeli’s are the most used modes of personal transportation available in our cities today. But at the same time they have equally remained messed up for various reasons. For literally decades, these modes have been operating without leveraging the benefits of scale and efficiency.
Hence, the launch of this new feature can prove to be highly fruitful for many and obviously is a win-win for all! Using this app, Ola will be able to connect the auto or Kaali-Peeli drivers and customers with absolute ease; thus, bringing more convenience to the users and more income for the drivers. And to top that; with cashless rides for these modes, the experience for both customers and drivers will become seamless!
How does it work?
It’s actually pretty simple! All one needs to do is: –
- Search for the vehicle (auto or Kaali-Peeli) using the app
- Once the vehicle arrives, inform the driver that the payment shall be made using the Ola money wallet
- On completion of the ride, the driver shall enter the fare displayed on the meter,
- This is followed by a four-digit OTP (one time password) that the customer will receive through an SMS
- And voila; Ola money is deducted from the customer’s account.
- Later, the drivers can withdraw their payments at any point of time from the prepaid ATM card that is linked to their Ola account.
- The service is available in 6 cities of India i.e. Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi or Bangalore. Additionally, users in Mumbai can book & pay for their Kaali-Peeli taxis via Ola money wallet.
Driver Benefits
- Even though, this feature has introduced Autos on their platform, a few months back; more than 40,000 drivers from 6 cities across India have already registered with them and are now available to Ola customers.
- To add to that; in the last six months, the drivers registered on their platform have seen a drastic increase of 40% in their revenues
- All the money earned by the drivers is directly deposited to their account with Ola, and every registered driver is given a prepaid card which can be used at any ATM to withdraw the money.
- The app helps drivers receive booking requests from anyone wanting a ride around them and also helps them with turn-by-turn navigation to reach the customer too
- With payments being cashless, the drivers do not have to worry about keeping or finding change every now-&-then
- Presently, Ola is the only car rental mobile app offering such kind of a service.
Image Credit: www.olacabs.com