Ola prompts customers to share rides to cut pollution

The ride-sharing app will install billboards displaying the amount of CO2 emissions reduced when users share rides

India’s largest taxi aggregator Ola is not one to shy away from publicity, spending millions on advertising its low-cost rides to millions. This time around the company is changing things up, by motivating people to save the environment by using its service.

Starting in the first week of August, Ola will install billboards at prominent locations with digital counters in the pollution prone cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. These digital boards will read out the amount of CO2 emissions reduced in each city when its citizens use the company’s ridesharing service.

“Shared mobility is the new paradigm for sustainable transportation. With Ola’s ‘#DoYourShare’ campaign, our goal is to help cities reduce on-road congestion and unhealthy traffic jams, by encouraging more and more commuters to opt for Ola Share,” said Raghuvesh Sarup, Chief Marketing Officer at Ola, in a statement.

While Ola Share has been on offer since October last year, the company has so far utilised the hook of lower prices to get customers to opt for the service. “Save up to 50% on Mini fares,” reads a pop-up on Ola’s app. Mini is Ola’s second most affordable offering.

For the new campaign, Ola has partnered with the World Resource Institute, an organisation working towards building low-carbon emission economies. In the fortnight during which the campaign will run, Ola estimates that by sharing rides on its platform it can reduce vehicular CO2 emissions by 1,200 tonnes, or about 400 tonnes in each city.

“We are thrilled that Ola is using our toolkit to measure their emissions impact on the environment. This is the first step in contributing towards environment-friendly cities in the country,” said Vivek P Adhia, Head of Business Engagement at WRI.

While ridesharing is indeed good for the service, it also makes great business sense for companies such as Uber and Ola. By sharing rides, not only are these companies unlocking value that would have otherwise gone unutilised, drivers too earn more by completing more trips.

Since its launch in October 2015, Ola claims ridesharing on its platform has helped save over 2 million litres of fuel and 4,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions have been reduced. Apart from calling it a more affordable way of getting around, Ola now wants you to think of saving the environment by using its service.