Ola drives into Shimla; launches mobile app for customers

Ola, India's most popular mobile app for booking cab, has announced its services in the popular hill station of Shimla.

The launch makes Shimla the first city in Himachal Pradesh to have mobile app based personal transportation services, like 100 other cities in India.

Committed to the mission of building mobility for a billion people, Ola will be rolling out both 'Mini and Sedan' variants on its platform. While the customers can avail mini rides at Rs. 12 per kilometer, sedan rides can be availed at Rs. 14 per kilometer. Ola also gives an opportunity to avail its ride worth Rs. 100 for free for the customers on first come basis.

Available for download on Android, iOS and Windows phones, Ola aims to cater to the demand from customers with ETAs as low as 5 to 7 minutes. The company intends to further ramp up operations in the city and bring onboard over 1000 vehicles on platform in the next six months.

Ola, Business Head-North, Deep Singh, said, "We are thrilled to bring Ola to the city of Shimla, making available personal transportation at the tap of a button. Residents and tourists in the city can now enjoy access to reliable, efficient and convenient transportation options at all times."

"We look forward to becoming an integral part of Shimla's mobility ecosystem in the time to come. Ola's launch in Shimla will provide employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for driver-partners from within the city. Drivers in other cities have seen an increase of up to 40 percent in their earnings after they have registering with Ola," Deep added.

He also said that the company is working to create a robust supply side ecosystem and is confident that many existing and aspiring drivers in Shimla will grow as entrepreneurs with Ola.

Ola's focus over the next one year is to create an eco-system to nurture micro-entrepreneurship among the drivers in Shimla as well as other existing cities. For this purpose, Ola has tied up with leading car manufacturers like Tata, Ford, Mahindra, Maruti and Nissan to help the drivers buy cars from them directly at discounts of up to Rs. 1,00,000.

The company has also tied up with financial institutions to ensure that the drivers are able to procure loans for buying their own cars easily.