Taxi aggregator Ola has introduced an option for weekend travellers in six cities, christened Ola Outstation.
The outstation ride can be booked through the Ola app for customers to travel from one city to another, starting from ₹8 per km, with an option to choose from a mini or a sedan. Every ride will be billed as a round trip; no ride-time charges are applicable and all payments will have to be made in cash along with overnight charges to be paid to the driver, starting from ₹250 per night for the duration of the trip. Ola customers received personal emails informing them about the new service late Wednesday night.
While customers in Vadodra will have to pay ₹8 per km to travel to Ahmedabad, Ankleshwar, Anand or Surat; customers in Kochi have to shell out ₹12 per km for inter-city rides to travel to Thiruvananthapuram, Wayanad, Alleppey and Munnar.
Competition Intense competition from international rival Uber, which is steadily gaining market share, has resulted in an aggressive set of new product launches from Ola. Last Friday witnessed the launch of Ola Lux, to cater to the luxury segment for in-city travel. Luxury sedans and SUVs are available on-demand at a minimum fare of ₹200 and ₹19 per km. Available across south Mumbai to begin with, the Lux services will be introduced shortly to other parts of the city.
It signed an MoU last month with Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru to allow driver-partners to park their vehicles at specifically demarcated areas inside the airport.