Ola gets 'greener'; to add 3,000 CNG cabs this week

The company is also in talks with manufacturers and dealers to help the driver partners exchange their old diesel-run cars with CNG vehicles

Taxi aggregator app Ola is expanding its fleet of CNG vehicles with addition of 3,000 cars this week, following the crackdown on diesel taxis plying in the Capital as per High Court orders.

The Bengaluru-based company is also in talks with manufacturers and dealers to help the driver partners exchange their old diesel-run cars with CNG vehicles.

"We are committed to complying with CNG adoption and are adding more and more CNG cabs onto the platform. Close to 50 per cent of cars in Delhi on the Ola app are already on CNG," an Ola spokesperson said.

Ola is adding about 3,000 CNG vehicles this week to ensure that customers have a cab available with a five minute ETA (estimated time of arrival) at any point of time, he added.

The SoftBank-backed company has about 25,000 cabs registered in Delhi on its platform.

According to a Supreme Court ruling, commercial vehicles cannot ply in Delhi unless converted to the single fuel mode of CNG.

The Delhi High Court, in its July 29 order, said the court cannot remain a "bystander" while an online taxi aggregator "pollutes the city".

"We are concerned about the livelihoods of driver entrepreneurs on our platform and are working out innovative solutions for them. We are leveraging our partnership with car manufacturers and dealers to enable exchange options for diesel cars to CNG," the spokesperson said.

Ola will announce more initiatives in the weeks ahead for driver partners, he added.