Ola Cabs
| 200px | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Technology |
| Founded | 3 December 2010 |
| Founders | Bhavish Aggarwal |
| Headquarters | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
|
Key people
|
CEO Bhavish Aggarwal CTO Ankit Bhati |
| Services | Taxi, Vehicle for hire |
| Owner | ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd |
|
Number of employees
|
7000 (2015) |
| Slogan | ChaloNiklo |
| Website | https://www.olacabs.com/ |
OlaCabs, commonly known as Ola, is an Indian online transportation network company. Ola started as an online cab aggregator in Mumbai, now based out in Bangalore.
It was founded on 3 December 2010 by Bhavish Aggarwal (currently CEO) and Ankit Bhati. As of 2014, the company had expanded to a network of more than 200,000 cars across 85 cities. In November 2014, Ola expanded to incorporate autos on-trial basis in Bangalore.[1] Post the trial phase, Ola Auto expanded to other cities like Delhi, Pune and Chennai starting December 2014. In December 2015, Ola expanded its auto services in Chandigarh, Indore, Jaipur and Guwahati. Ola is valued at $5 billion as of September 2015.[2]
Contents
Service
Ola provides different types of cab service ranging from economic to luxury travel.[3] The cabs are reserved through a mobile app. This cab service supports both cash and cashless payment options with Ola money. It claims to clock an average of more than 150,000 bookings per day and commands 60 percent of the market share in India.[4] November 2014 Ola also started on-demand auto rickshaw service on its mobile app in Bangalore, Pune and few other cities.
In October 2014, Company claimed to have 80 percent of the taxi market share in India,
Ola has started more services such as Ola Cafe, Ola Store, Ola Shuttle, Ola Money and Ola Corporate.[5]
In April 2016, Ola launched an e-rickshaw category on its platform that will enable the users to book rides on the electric vehicle in the Delhi-NCR region. A total of 5100 rickshaws will be deployed according to COO Pranay Jivrajka.[6]
Acquisitions
- In March 2015, OlaCabs started Bangalore based cab service TaxiForSure for about $200 million.[7] From the 25th of June 2015, Ola users have gained access to TFS cabs via the Ola mobile application.[8]
- By November 2015, Ola had acquired Geotagg, a trip-planning applications company, for an undisclosed sum to strengthen its new bus-shuttle service.
- By November 2015, Ola also purchased minority stake in Zipcash.
Employee relations
In cooperation with Avanti Learning Centres, drivers who are associated with Ola can get their children studying in the ninth and tenth standard to the learning centre and avail free education.
Ola Gurukul will start off with a batch of 500 students in Mumbai. The initiative will be extended to provide free stationary, books and other apparatus for the top performing students. The student’s program will be held after school so that the students get the much needed attention while also saving on tuition classes costs.[9]
Criticism
Technology
OlaCabs' technology came under criticism regarding the security of its mobile app. The API calls could be replayed to top up its wallet.[10]
In August 2015, a privacy breach had occurred when intended customers' details such as names, phone numbers and addresses, in Bangalore, were received as SMS messages by an individual in Chennai. Although these unanticipated messages were reported to Ola, the company had chosen to ignore them, even under the threat of being reported to the TRAI.[11] The issue was reportedly fixed three weeks later after receiving considerable media coverage and social media attention.[12]
Over billing and transparency in billing
The refund policy of OlaCabs has been criticised because of billing errors caused by technical glitches in their system.[13]
Hackers have claimed that they have been able to hack OlaCabs system and access customer data including credit card/debit card information.
The Bill for OLA Cabs consist of following elements
1: Base Fare [Charged Flat]
2: Distance Fare [Charged Kilometer Wise]
3: Ride Time Fare [Charged time taken to travel]
4: Peak Pricing [Direct Ratio depending on demand for cabs[14]
5: Service Tax [5.6 %]
6: Swach Bharat Tax [0.2%]
7: Toll Charges [Toll Collection in case you cross Toll Junction on road]
Driver Credibility
The Delhi Transport authority in early 2015 questioned the credibility and required verification of drivers plying Ola cabs, along with other competitors like Uber. The inquiry has revealed that approximately 80% of drivers amongst all services did not possess permits to ply commercial transport services in Delhi.[15]
Awards and recognition
Ola bagged Startup of The Year award in Economic Times Startup Awards 2015.
See also
References
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