Ola offers app for private car-pooling for Delhi, NCR

From the same day the odd-even plying formula takes effect

Ola, the country's leading app-based taxi service aggregator, has followed global rival Uber to launch a private car-pooling feature within its app in the Delhi/National Capital Region.

It will begin as an experiment on January 1, Friday, when an odd-even licence plate number mandate as the determinant for plying on the roads takes effect for private vehicles, in a government effort to combat congestion and pollution.

Ola’s move will allow owners of private cars to pool rides, picking up and dropping people going in their general direction. The company says it will not charge car owners or passengers for using its pool service.

Uber has introduced its global model of car-pooling in Delhi, where owners of private cars charge passengers, essentially acting as taxi drivers. With ideally half the city’s car owners being unable to use their vehicles on any given day from Friday, both companies are expecting many takers for the new feature.

“This has potential to unlock massive idle transportation inventory in our cities, with the ease of Ola’s technology that millions already use,” said Ishan Gupta, category head, shared mobility at Ola.

CarPool will appear as a separate category on the Ola app in Delhi-NCR. Vehicle owners will have to register their vehicle details on the Ola app, after which they can make themselves available to sharing rides with people travelling along the same route.

Ola has also introduced a 'friend list' feature that allows users to keep track of people they know who are pooling, though the feature will not be restricted to this.

“We continually work with the government at different levels and are very strongly in favour of the experiment of the odd-even formula because it is imperative that we find sustainable solutions. Our pro-active move to get 100 per cent of the demand in Delhi met with CNG (compressed natural gas) cars was the first major step in the industry for sustainable transportation. Ola Share was the second major step in this direction and CarPool, according to us, is the third major step,” said Anand Subramanian, spokesperson of Ola.

Safety and feedback features such as ride tracking, sharing of ride details, an SOS function, adding of emergency feedback and normal feedback have all been retained within the private car-pooling feature.

APP WAY TO RIDE

• CarPool will appear as a separate category on the Ola app in Delhi-NCR
   
• Vehicle owners will have to register their vehicle details
   
• Then, they can make themselves available to sharing rides with people travelling along the same route
   
• Ola has also introduced a 'friend list' feature that allows users to keep track of people they know who are pooling, though the feature will not be restricted to this