Bangalore based ride-hailing company Ola all set to expand globally as it acquires London license.

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Key Highlights

Bangalore based cab aggregator Ola will soon start its services in London after receiving a license to operate in the city.

This news was broken by the Transport of London, the government body that looks after the city’s transportation.

This license is reportedly valid till 3rd October 2020.

Bangalore based cab aggregator Ola will soon start its services in London after receiving a license to operate in the city. This news was broken by the Transport of London, the government body that looks after the city’s transportation. This license is reportedly valid till 3rd October 2020.

This news was then confirmed by the representatives of Ola. The cab aggregator has been steadily expanding its reach in the UK since it began operations there last August. It currently provides its services to 21 boroughs in the UK and has over 10,000 registered drivers as a part of its team. The company has been hailed for its collaborative approach to solving mobility issues in the city in meaningful and innovative ways.

Ola is the only cab provider that offers cabs as well as private vehicles for hire to the public, thus offering their drivers and users more choice.

Before heading to the capital, the cab company first launched its services in several cities in the UK. It was first launched in the city of Cardiff in August 2018 After that, the company had started its services in three cities in March 2019 after obtaining the ‘taxi and private hire’ licenses in the same- Reading, Birmingham and Liverpool and now operates in over 150 cities globally.

The company is all set to launch across more and more cities in the Midlands as well as Northern England.

The company is the newest entry in London which is one of the world’s largest taxi markets, challenging Uber and the traditional London black cabs like ViaVan, Bolt and Kapten.

Ola has however not decided the date when its services will commence in the city. Commenting on the same, an Ola spokesperson said that London is an iconic city that boasts of mobility environment that is progressive. They further added that the company is very excited to bring Ola to London in the near future. The company is all set to partner with riders, drivers, the local authorities and the government to build world-class cab offerings to the city.

Ola reportedly also offers the highest share of revenue to their drivers as they charge just 10% commission from cabs and 15% from private vehicles as compared to 25% that is charged by its competitors.

The cab aggregator has reportedly raised a revenue of $3.8 billion since its inception in 2011. After several years of successful operations in India, the company decided to take its services to the international markets like New Zealand and Australia.

In September 2018, Uber which is a major competitor of Ola had its license cancelled to operate in the city. However, the cab company legally challenged this decision and received a 15-month license to operate in the city.

The company also integrated the public transport data of London into its main app and proceeded to launch Jump electric bikes in a bid to become the one stop for all transportation needs of the public.   

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Shweta Barve

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