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Ola cabs today launched its second service in Kolkata with the launch of 'Ola mini' that will provide small cars to customers, thus heating up the price war in the taxi market of Kolkata. Uber had recently slashed its fare to Rs 9 per kilometre for both UberGo and UberX services.
The cab companies have been fighting fiercely to gain market share in the city where there have been numerous complaints of harassment by the drivers of the metered taxis. After acquiring TaxiForSure, Ola is in direct competition with Uber which recently slashed its fare to Rs 9 per kilometre. Ola will offer AC compact cars and hatchbacks like Tata Indica, Vista and Ford Figo under the Ola Mini service at Rs 9 per kilometre with a base fare of Rs 99 for the first four kilometres.
The company's sedan services available in Kolkata since November costs Rs 12 per kilometre with a base fare of Rs 99 for the first four kilometres.
The Ola mini service has 1,500 cars in Kolkata. The company plans to expand it in other cities with around 5,000 cabs within the next six months.
"The Mini variants has seen great traction amongst customers across all cities and we expect it to be the most popular category here too," said Piyush Gupta, business head- East at Ola.
Ola Cabs promoted by ANI Technologies Pvt.Ltd recently acquired TaxiforSure in a $200 million cash and equitydeal and is now the greatest rival to the San Francisco-based Uber in India.Flush with cash from investors, the company has been cutting fares heavily in order to gain customers from Uber.
Backed by Soft bank of Japan from whom the company recently raised $ 210 million and according to reports is close to raising $ 400 million from DST Global.
Not only agreegators like Uber and Ola but radio taxi company Meru Cabs has also cut its fare for the city. While it charges Rs 20 per km across India, the fares for Kolkata have been kept at Rs 12 for a km.
