Olacabs launches services in Ahmedabad

Firm to also enter Surat, Rajkot & Vadodara in the next six months, hit 10 more cities by end of 2014-15

The battle to tap the ‘personal transport market’ saw a new entrant with Olacabs, which claims to be India’s largest cab network, launching its services in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Olacabs follows TaxiForSure and Mytaxiindia, which commenced its operations in Ahmedabad late last month. Ola is a Spanish word meaning ‘Hello’.

Launching its operations in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, Anand Subramanian, director - marketing communications, Olacabs, said, “We are excited to launch our services in Ahmedabad, which is one of the most important economic and industrial centres in the country. While, the city has grown in leaps and bounds, it still lacks a personal transportation service that is easy to access and offers quality and reliable travel experience to commuters.”

The objective of starting  services in Ahmedabad, Subramanian stated, is to bring quality cabs from local operators and drivers present in different parts of the city onto one technology platform.

“We want to organise the unorganised sector and bring them on a common platform by leveraging technology, thereby, making it easy for customers to access cab services as per their requirements,” Subramanian said.

Olacabs, which has its presence in 10 Indian cities, plans to expand its services to Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara in the next six months in addition to starting its operations in 10 more cities by the end of 2014-15.

Enumerating the price details, Pallav Singh, vice-president - operations, Olacabs, said, "Cabs booked through Ola in Ahmedabad will be priced at Rs 100 for the first 4 kilometres and Rs 12 per km thereafter, for the sedan category. Customers can also book these cabs for hour based local and outstation rental services."

Singh said Ola has more than 175 drivers signed up with them and plans to have around 500 cabs by the end of this financial year.

The company currently has over 12,000 cabs on its platform across the country and plans to double its capacity in the next one year.