Renowned Indian ride hailing service provider Ola has reportedly commenced its operations in the UK starting from South Wales. Sources cite that the company aims to cover the entire UK by end of 2018.
Experts forecast that Ola’s decision to go international has started to mount pressure on its longtime rival and the market-leader in UK’s ride hailing sector, Uber. The pressure is reportedly made apparent by Ola’s introductory commission rates that take as low as 5% per ride from taxis and 10% from private hire cars, significantly lower than Uber’s 25% commission rate.
According to a press release by Ola, the company will also be operating in Newport, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. Customers will reportedly have the choice to select normal private for-hire vehicles or the nation’s iconic black cabs.
Ola UK managing director, Ben Legg stated that this is a thrilling moment for Ola and its South Wales drivers who have given the company quite a positive feedback so far. Legg further stated that Ola looks forward to serving its customers through its smartphone application.
Incidentally, this is Ola’s second venture outside of India with Australia being the first. Ola began its operations in Australia in February and already boasts of 40,000 drivers who have signed up with the company since then.
Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder of TaxiForSure, Ola’s $200 million worth 2015 acquisition, stated that Ola & Uber have struggled to go beyond the top 100 million customers in India. Radhakrishna deduced that this is probably the main reason for Ola to go international as the company wants to expedite its growth without any further regional barriers.
Ola is reportedly celebrating its UK launch by offering passengers a limited amount of discounts through its smartphone application, hoping that it will prompt new passengers to try out its services.