Ola Cabs will now provide South Mumbaikars the facility to book the ubiquitous Kaali-Peeli taxis dotting the city landscape with a single touch using the Ola mobile app, without ever having to step out of their home or waiting hopelessly by the side of a road waiting for a cab to show up.
Founded by IIT Bomaby alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati in January 2011, Ola is the largest and one of the most popular mobile booking apps in India, with more than 30,000 cars across 19 cities (Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Pune, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Indore, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Surat, Vishakhapatnam and soon in Nashik, Nagpur and Coimbatore) at its disposal. The app which is available on the Windows, iOS and the Android platform integrates city transportation for customers and drivers onto a technology platform.
The new single touch cab booking service has, at present, been rolled out in South Mumbai and will be made available all across the city within a year. More than 2,000 Kaali-Peeli cabs in South Mumbai are already registered with the Ola platform.
“This is a very proud moment for us! Our focus at Ola has always been to make transportation convenient for users and efficient for drivers by leveraging the power of technology. Kaali-Peelis are iconic in the context of Mumbai and are a lifeline of this city’s transportation ecosystem. We are delighted to have them on our platform and are confident that our technology will, at the one end, make the booking process extremely convenient for the customers and at the other end, help Kaali-Peeli drivers get access to more customers. The initiative has been received with great enthusiasm from drivers on the platform and commuters are going to love the booking experience! This move truly shows the extent to which technology can benefit everyone in the ecosystem”, said Mr. Anand Subramanian, Director – Marketing Communications, Olacabs.
How to book a Kaali- Peeli using the Ola mobile app?
Ola’s app for Android, iOS and Windows can be downloaded simply by going to www.ola.bz/b on a mobile browser on either of these platforms. For other smartphones, an HTML5 app-like interface is available on www.olacabs.com/m. Customers can also download the app by giving a missed call on 022-40091600.
Once the app has been installed on to a smartphone, the customer will be able to see all the Kaali-Peelis near him. Customer can choose between a Kaali-Peeli and a Cool Cab on the app. On entering the drop location and confirming the request, available drivers in the vicinity are alerted through their devices.
Based on the information provided, the Kaali-Peeli driver can decide to accept the booking request. On doing so, the customer will get a message with the ride details as well as all information on the app. The driver gets navigation on his device to reach the customer’s pickup point. The customer canal so track their ride on the Ola app till it reaches them. Customers are expected to pay by the standard meter as usual and settle the fare in cash with the driver. They also have the option to give feedback on their ride from the app.
Benefits
Both the customers and cabbies will benefit with the introduction of this online cab booking service.
The customers will not have to search for cabs or despair over their non-availability, often losing precious time in the process. They will be available to locate the nearest cab using this app and book them well in advance. The cab will arrive at the prescheduled pickup point. Besides that, the users of this app will be able to share ride details with friends and family and to track the commuter’s cab location in real time. These features will make travelling within the city in a Kaali-Peeli more predictable, hassle free and safe.
The cabbies registered with Ola, on their part, will also benefit from the service. With the latest travel technology at their disposal, they will be able to check up booking requests on a consistent basis from wherever they are. With lesser time being wasted on looking for clients, their daily revenue can get a boost of upto 40%. An additional feature of this app is that the drivers will not be tied up and can opt to logout of this app as per their wish and convenience.
A cabbie hailing from Bihar who has been earning his livelihood by ferrying passengers across the city since the last 25 years has been using the app since and says he is delighted he chose to do so. he does not have to waste 20-25 minutes after dropping each passenger, while waiting for the next one to turn up. He also appreciated the fact that the app specifies all routes and directions, which further cuts down on wastage of time.
While it all sounds good, A L Quadros, leader of the Mumbai Taximen’s Union, has expressed doubt over the success of the service. “It is too early to comment about the app but I’m sure it is not going to be successful because the services will be provided only for long distance travel,” he said.
What do you think? Will booking of Kaali-Peelis with Ola really work? Do let us know in comments..
Yes, this will be a great success, no doubt about it