Ola Mobility Institute (OMI) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) collaborated* to use a data-driven approach to estimate the charging infrastructure needed to support cost-effective electrification of taxi fleets in the Delhi region. In the policy brief titled, ‘Electrification of On-demand Mobility in Delhi: Identification of Strategic Locations for public EV Charging Stations in Delhi’, ward-wise number of charging stations required have been identified for Delhi using real world travel demand data. The policy brief  also highlights how the framework employed is holistic in the sense that it combines trip data, vehicle cost, fuel cost, land cost, electricity generation and demand and the role of policy incentives.

The approach employed here can inform cost-effective implementation for the Delhi government, energy operators and users.  By strategically locating charging stations along high-demand corridors within a city, the government can ensure high utilization of the public charging stations and ensure a smooth user experience. 

The recommendations from the policy brief can be used by the government, businesses and urban planners, among others, to effectively plan Delhi’s charging infrastructure. The adoption of electric mobility has tremendous environmental and economic benefits. As cities move towards electrification, the framework developed in study can be applied to other cities and cater to the charging requirements of high-utilization vehicles.

Read the policy brief here 

About University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) 

UCLA is a public research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA has been ranked as the best public university in the country for multiple years by multiple university ranking organizations. Established in 1919, it is the second oldest of the 10 campus University of California systems. It consists of six undergraduate colleges, and seven professional schools. Institute of Environment and Sustainability (IoES) at UCLA strives to move science to action on the front lines of environmental progress. Using Los Angeles and California as a testbed, IoES promises solutions for the broader world. With its eight research centers and partnerships throughout the UCLA network, we achieve national and global reach.

About Ola Mobility Institute (OMI) 

OMI is the policy research and social innovation think-tank of Ola, focused on developing knowledge frameworks at the intersection of mobility innovation and public good. The Institute concerns itself with public research on the social and economic impact of mobility as a service, electric mobility, climate change, future of work and the mobility economy, transit-oriented planning, digitalisation of mobility, accessibility, safety, and gender. All research conducted at OMI is funded by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (the parent company of brand Ola).

* Ola provided a representative data set of daily taxicab demand for New Delhi. However, no financial support was provided by Ola and the responsibility for underlying research rests solely with UCLA. 

This note was sent to all Ola Employees by co-founder & CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal on 20 May, 2020.

Dear Team,

Ever since my last email to you 6 weeks ago, I had hoped to write again soon in better times. Unfortunately, the COVID crisis continues to unfold all around us causing unprecedented economic and social destruction. It has also become evident that the coronavirus will not be eliminated any time soon. We will rather have to learn to live with the virus and resultant implications.

In these circumstances, today I write to all of you with the toughest decision I have ever taken – the need to downsize our organization and let go of 1400 of our valued employees.

We had all hoped in the beginning that this would be a short-lived crisis and that its impact would be temporary. Over the past couple of months, all members of our extended leadership team have taken significant salary cuts to be able to help the organization delay tougher people decisions as we waited for the situation to evolve. But unfortunately, it’s not been a short crisis. And the prognosis ahead for our business is very unclear and uncertain. It is going to take a long time for people to go out and about like before. With more companies preferring to have a large number of employees work from home, air travel limited to essential trips and vacations being put off for better times, the impact of this crisis is definitely going to be long-drawn for us. The world is not going to revert to the pre-COVID era anytime soon. Social distancing, anxiety, and an abundance of caution will be the operating principles for everyone.

The fallout of the virus has been very tough for our industry in particular. Our revenue has come down 95% over the past 2 months. Most importantly, this crisis has affected the livelihoods of millions of our drivers and their families across India and our international geographies. In this moment, various teams across the group have pursued, in spite of the many constraints, to serve drivers, citizens, and the nation at large. Here are some of the highlights:

Initiatives for Driver Partners: Our lease rental waivers for over 30,000 leasing drivers gave them relief of up to Rs. 25,000 a month. Over 200,000 driver families benefited from our Zero interest loans (Ola Sahyog) to support their household expenses during this time, in addition to COVID Insurance for them and their spouses in India and a COVID Fund for international markets.

Drive The Driver Fund: Through generous individual and institutional contributions, over 1 mn kgs of essential supplies have been distributed and over 500 medical emergencies for drivers and families including pregnancies, dialysis, cancer-care and neonatal cases have been financially supported. This has been very meaningful and timely for the driver community across the country and the stories of hope due to this support the drivers are sharing with us are deeply moving.

Citizen Initiatives: Serving our frontline heroes braving the crisis and citizens in need are core to our philosophy of helping the community at all times. We launched Ola Emergency in over 20 cities across the country and partnered with various state governments to serve healthcare workers and doctors. We served the NHS workers in the UK with discounted rides. We offered food to tens of thousands of migrant manpower in various cities and helped distribute relief material in London with the Mayor’s office. Ola CONNECTS, our technology platform to support governments and public service organizations to fight COVID is being used by farmers in large states, and being considered for more use cases, even internationally for public good.

We have done everything in our means to support those around us in these difficult circumstances. These initiatives reflect our collective values of strong community focus and being customer-first, even in the wake of a crisis. It is important that we preserve and cherish these values as we look ahead, even as we continue to do the right things for the organization and all our stakeholders to be able to emerge stronger in the long run.

This downsizing exercise has been a very tough and sad decision for the entire management team to make. I have personally spent significant time, reviewing and revisiting every single aspect of this exercise as each one of the impacted individuals has played an important role in building Ola and are the most talented and passionate people I have come across. These decisions are not reflective of anyone’s performance and are purely a function of the uncontrollable circumstances that we have been faced with.

Between today and Saturday, our HR team will have 1:1 conversations with each and every one of the impacted individuals. While nothing can take the emotional trauma away for those of our colleagues who will be leaving, we have tried to bring together a comprehensive benefits plan that will ensure that every single team member affected is given maximum support on all fronts – financial, healthcare, emotional, and career-support.

Financial Support: Every affected employee will receive a minimum financial payout of 3 months of their fixed salary, irrespective of the notice period. Beyond this, those employees who have spent significantly more time with us will be eligible for higher payouts depending on tenure.

ESOPs Vesting: All eligible ESOPs will vest forward to the closest quarter. For those who may not have completed a year, as an exception, we will enable pro-rated vesting for the period of time spent with us.

Insurance: All affected employees will be able to continue using their medical, life and accident insurance cover for themselves and their families up to 31st Dec 2020 or the start of their next job whichever is earlier, to help minimize the financial burden of health and other risks in a time like this.

Medical Insurance for parents: We are all worried about our parents in a time like this. Hence we have taken a decision to offer medical insurance for up to 2 parents (or in-laws) to each employee. This parental insurance will cover parents for all pre-existing ailments up to the age of 90, for a sum of Rs. 2 lakhs. This insurance will continue for all our departing colleagues till 31st Dec 2020 or the start of their next job whichever is earlier. We are also extending this cover to all those who continue to stay with us.

Healthcare & Emotional Wellness: We are extending unlimited access to health and wellness support through our respective third party partnerships, through to the end of the year. This will enable instant access to leading doctors for employees and their families as well as coaching and one on one counselling support from experts.

Career Support: While we have made every possible effort to accommodate as many affected team members in open roles in our other group companies, we are rallying the support of the Ola Talent Acquisition team to help with outplacement support for as many people and in helping find suitable roles for them outside of Ola. In addition to this, we are also allowing all company-issued laptops (primary work devices) to be retained by affected employees.

To every employee who is leaving us, I would like to express my gratitude and reiterate that your contributions to the organization are extremely valuable and that you will always be an integral part of Ola’s journey. This will be a one time exercise and will be complete by the end of this week for our India Mobility business and by the end of next week for Ola foods and Ola Financial Services. No more COVID related cuts will be done after this exercise.

This crisis necessitates the need to conserve cash aggressively so that we are able to invest in opportunities in the future. While we restructure our organization to the new realities of our business, we are also going to recommit ourselves to strengthening our operational excellence and leverage a lot more technology to improve efficiencies and reduce cost across all parts of our business. We are increasing our investments and adding people capabilities in R&D across the group through this crisis to double down on innovation and engineering.

Mobility will always be at the heart of human progress. Formats will evolve depending on context – personal, shared, public transit, or the niches in between. This pandemic has only highlighted the need for each of us to have safe and reliable mobility solutions. As economic activity returns, so will the need for mobility, but the paradigms will have changed. This crisis is accelerating macro trends of digital commerce and clean mobility, and our businesses are well-positioned to leverage these macro trends well.

This is an opportunity for us to envision a new future of safe, efficient, and clean mobility, and recommit ourselves towards building this future. As I mentioned, we will be increasing our investment into R&D and innovation in this period and pursuing our dreams and ambitions with even more determination.

I’m filled with a lot of emotion and sadness as I write this email, but also with strong hope and resolve to rebuild our business, and create the future that we envision, together.

Best, 
Bhavish

As per the latest guidelines issued by various State Government today, driver-partners operating three and four-wheelers on the platform will be available to serve mobility needs on the Ola app, with the highest levels of safety precautions in the states of Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu (except Chennai), Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Assam. This also brings relief to millions of drivers-partners whose livelihoods depend on serving citizens on a daily basis.

We are committed to raising the standards of safety and hygiene with our various initiatives to secure the well being of both driver-partners and customers. In all of the 160+ cities where Ola is now operational, enhanced safety protocols are applicable across every single trip. This includes compulsory mask usage for driver-partners and passengers, complete sanitization of cars post-trips, adhering to social distancing norms by limiting to two passengers per ride amongst other key steps through our ’10 Steps to a Safer Ride’ initiative.’ We urge all users to strictly adhere to local guidelines to undertake only essential trips with all safety precautions.

The company has mandated driver-partners and customers to follow 5 precautionary steps each, encouraging them to practice social distancing, sanitization measures and personal hygiene etiquette at all times. The protocols have been divided as follows:

For Driver-partners:

1. No travel in containment zones: Vehicles will not operate to and from Government identified containment zones.
2. Selfie-authentication of drivers: All driver-partners are required to wear masks and need to authenticate this before the start of every ride by sharing a selfie through their partner app.
3. Equipped with hygiene kits: Driver-partners will be provided with masks, sanitizers and disinfectants and can avail these at all walk-in centres across their cities.
4. Cars to be cleaned regularly: Common surfaces like the handle, inner handle and seat to be cleaned before every ride.
5. Flexible cancellations: Drivers and customers are being given the option of cancelling a ride if the other is not wearing a mask to ensure their own safety as well that of subsequent users.

For Customers:

1. Wearing a mask is compulsory: All customers boarding the cab need to wear masks and should sanitize before and after every ride.
2. AC to be switched off: To avoid re-circulation of air, the AC will be switched off and windows will be kept open during all rides.
3. 2 passengers per car: Only two passengers per ride will be allowed in the cab. They will also be urged to sit by the windows on the rear of the car.
4. Load and unload luggage themselves: To help maintain social distancing, customers are urged to load and unload luggage themselves.
5. Cashless payments: Customers are encouraged to make cashless payments for the rides to avoid any unnecessary contact.

• Ola will provide free transportation for medical trips for non-COVID cases through its network of vehicles
• The Company continues to collaborate with State Governments to ensure mobility for the citizens amidst the pandemic

Delhi, April 25, 2020: Ola, India’s leading mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, today rolled out its service in Delhi in partnership with Delhi State Government’s health department to bolster the capital’s ambulance network. The Company’s fleet will be used as mini-ambulances which will enable citizens of the capital city to access essential medical care with minimum delay. This free of cost service provides a much-needed solution to the supply shortage of essential medical transportation during these difficult times.

Citizens in need of mobility support for any non-Covid medical care can dial 102 and the health ministry team will allocate a cab for the patient to be transported to a hospital free of cost. Ola is providing convenient, reliable and safe transport services for all non-COVID medical trips such as scheduled check-ups, dialysis, chemotherapy and for immediate medical needs such as injuries, amongst others. The Company is facilitating a clean and safe ride experience by ensuring that all earmarked cabs are equipped with essential protective equipment like masks and sanitizers and are operated by specially trained driver-partners following proper sanitary measures as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health.

Anand Subramanian, Spokesperson and Head of Communications, Ola, said, “We are grateful to the Delhi Government for this collaboration and the opportunity to enable mobility support for the state’s healthcare system amidst the ongoing crisis. Access to healthcare, especially for non-COVID related emergencies is becoming a major challenge in our cities. Through this initiative, we will be able to supplement the existing ambulance network with access to quick and safe mobility for anyone in need, to get to the hospital. We are also partnering with state governments across the country and will continue to support them with their emergency response efforts.”

Ola has also collaborated with the Ministry of Health, Karnataka and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to provide essential mobility services in Bangalore and Mumbai respectively by ferrying medical staff, healthcare workers and paramedical staff from homes to hospitals.

The Company has rolled out its new category, ‘Ola Emergency’ which will provide transport for medical trips to and from hospitals across 15 cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Vizag, Nashik, Varanasi, Indore, Bhopal, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Rourkela and Bhubaneswar.

About Ola:

Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 250+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets like London and Sydney. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2.5 million driver-partners.

Ola’s core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric and Ola Fleet Technologies, India’s largest fleet management business. With its acquisition of Ridlr, India’s leading public transportation app and investment in Vogo, a dockless scooter sharing solution, Ola is looking to build mobility for the next billion Indians. Ola also extends its consumer offerings like micro-insurance and credit led payments through Ola Financial Services and a range of owned food brands with India’s largest network of cloud kitchens through Ola Foods.

Ola was founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati with a mission to build mobility for a billion people.

For more details, visit www.olacabs.com/media.

Mumbai, 25 April, 2020: Aiding the state’s efforts in its fight against COVID-19, Ola Group, which operates Ola, India’s largest mobility platform, has pledged ₹50 Lakh to the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF). This contribution is towards providing relief measures across the state and accelerating responses towards mitigating the health and social consequences of the pandemic. 

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola Group said, “State Governments across the country are actively combating the outbreak of COVID-19 with various initiatives on ground as well as massive relief measures for affected communities. Through our humble contribution, we extend Ola’s support to the Maharashtra Government and stand with them in this hour of crisis. We salute the commendable dedication of the thousands of healthcare and frontline workers, who are tirelessly working to keep us safe and thank them for their service.”

He added, “We are also grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Government in serving citizens through our emergency services in the state and in supporting essential mobility for BMC to ferry healthcare workers across Mumbai. We look forward to extending all support to the state and the citizens in our fight against COVID-19 and in coming out stronger together. ”

The ‘Ola Emergency’ offering in Mumbai has over 200 hospitals mapped on the app, enabling citizens to access essential medical care 24×7. The service is also available in Nashik where more than 40 hospitals have been enabled to transport citizens from homes to hospitals and vice-versa. Earlier last week, Ola partnered with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), to help ferry medical staff, healthcare workers and paramedical staff from homes to hospitals.  

Through its social welfare arm, Ola Foundation, Ola launched the ‘Drive the Driver Fund’ a crowdfunding initiative to support Cab, Auto-rickshaw and Kaali-Peeli taxi drivers through and beyond the lockdown phase. Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Ola, has forgone his 1 year’s salary towards the cause while employees of the Ola Group have contributed ₹20 Crores. The Ola Group has also contributed a sum of ₹5 crores to the PM CARES fund and pledged INR 3 crores towards the Chief Minister’s Relief Funds of various states.

About Ola:

Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 250+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets like London and Sydney. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2.5 million driver-partners. 

Ola’s core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric and Ola Fleet Technologies, India’s largest fleet management business. With its acquisition of Ridlr, India’s leading public transportation app and investment in Vogo, a dockless scooter sharing solution, Ola is looking to build mobility for the next billion Indians. Ola also extends its consumer offerings like micro-insurance and credit led payments through Ola Financial Services and a range of owned food brands with India’s largest network of cloud kitchens through Ola Foods.  

Ola was founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati with a mission to build mobility for a billion people. 

For more details, visit www.olacabs.com/media. 

• Ola Emergency provides transport for medical trips to and from hospitals that are non-COVID and do not require an ambulance
• Over 200 hospitals in Mumbai have been mapped into the Ola app; a total of 1,000 hospitals across India

Mumbai, April 20, 2020: Ola, India’s leading mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride hailing companies, today rolled out ‘Ola Emergency’ in Mumbai, marking the service availability across 15 major Indian cities. Enabling citizens across the country to access essential medical care with minimum delay, the service is now available in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Vizag, Nashik, Varanasi, Indore, Bhopal, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Rourkela and Bhubaneswar. 

Through ‘Ola Emergency’, Ola is providing convenient, reliable and safe transport services for all non-COVID medical trips such as scheduled check-ups, dialysis, chemotherapy and for immediate medical needs such as injuries, amongst others. Ola is bringing this service in partnership with various state governments ensuring all norms of social distancing and safety measures. Citizens across these cities can seamlessly book a cab by selecting the ‘Ola Emergency’ category and entering the drop location from the list of available hospitals in the city. The platform allows trips to be booked only from homes to hospitals and vice versa.

In Mumbai, Ola has mapped over 200 hospitals in its app across the city. The company is facilitating a clean and safe ride experience by ensuring that all earmarked cabs are equipped with essential protective equipment like masks and sanitizers and are operated by specially trained driver-partners following proper sanitary measures as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health. Customers will be charged a nominal fare to compensate driver-partners for their services.

Commenting on the launch, Anand Subramanian, Spokesperson, Ola said, “The response to Ola Emergency since its launch less than two weeks ago has been very encouraging. Thousands of citizens in these cities have availed the service and we continue to receive requests from across the country to enable this service. The quality of cars, safety measures, and timeliness of the service has been welcomed by citizens and the authorities alike, further motivating us to double down on expanding the service to more cities amidst the extended lockdown. The service will also help provide an economic lifeline to many driver-partners whose incomes have taken a hit in the past few weeks.”

On the launch in Mumbai today, he further added, “We thank the Government of Maharashtra for the opportunity to provide an essential service to citizens during these times. We are engaged in constructive conversations with authorities at various levels across the country to aid them with their emergency response efforts, through various means.”

Earlier this week, Ola also opened up its technology platform to Governments to fight COVID-19 through ‘Ola CONNECTS’ (COmprehensive Navigation, NEtworking, Control and Tracking Solution). This platform can be deployed as a turn-key solution or customised to specific requirements, to assist governments and its various agencies in managing Real-Time War Rooms for various operations at scale, amidst the ongoing COVID crisis with 100% data privacy and world class security. Keeping in mind national interests and welfare of citizens, Ola is offering the CONNECTS platform and required development solutions free of cost to the government and its various 

Chandigarh / Gurugram , 17th April, 2020: Strengthening support towards relief efforts in the state, Ola Group, which operates Ola, India’s largest mobility platform, has committed ₹50 Lakhs to the Haryana Chief Minister’s Fund. The Ola Group comprises various business arms including Ola Mobility, its ride-hailing arm, Ola Financial Services, Ola Electric, as well as Ola Foods. The contribution aims to support the state’s efforts across enabling aid at the ground level, strengthening emergency response and also facilitating longer-term COVID-19 relief and recovery initiatives. 

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola Group said, “As India continues to address the COVID-19 outbreak, the State Governments are working tirelessly to ensure containment and relief work for affected citizens and communities. Through our humble contribution to the Haryana State Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, we stand in support of these efforts in every way possible. The Ola Group hails the efforts of the state and the commitment of the thousands of healthcare workers and essential services staff on the frontlines who are selflessly serving citizens in these challenging times. We are also grateful to the Government for collaborating with us to enable emergency services for citizens in the state to and from hospitals.”

Ola has undertaken several steps to reduce the strains faced by communities. Through its social welfare arm, Ola Foundation, Ola launched the “Drive the Driver Fund” a crowdfunding initiative to help affected cab, auto-rickshaw, and kaali-peeli taxi drivers across India. Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Ola pledged his 1 year’s salary towards the cause while Ola employees contributed ₹20 Crores. Providing additional financial relief, Ola is offering its driver partners interest-free micro credit. Strengthening essential mobility for healthcare workers, medical and paramedical staff in Mumbai, Ola partnered with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to help ferry them to and from hospitals. Earlier last week, the Ola Group contributed a sum ₹5 crores to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund to help in the fight against COVID-19.

Ola also recently launched ‘Ola Emergency’ on its app to enable essential medical trips on its platform in cities such as Bengaluru, Gurugram, Visakhapatnam, Nashik, and Bhubaneswar and will be introducing the service in more cities in the weeks ahead. The new category will bring a much-needed mobility solution for many citizens who do not have a mode of transport to access a hospital in case of a medical emergency.

About Ola:

Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 250+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets like London and Sydney. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2.5 million driver-partners. 

Ola’s core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric and Ola Fleet Technologies, India’s largest fleet management business. With its acquisition of Ridlr, India’s leading public transportation app and investment in Vogo, a dockless scooter sharing solution, Ola is looking to build mobility for the next billion Indians. Ola also extends its consumer offerings like micro-insurance and credit led payments through Ola Financial Services and a range of owned food brands with India’s largest network of cloud kitchens through Ola Foods.

Ola was founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati with a mission to build mobility for a billion people.

For more details, visit www.olacabs.com/media.

• Ola CONNECTS has all of Ola’s core capabilities and can be deployed in various use-cases by Governments and its agencies
• Collaborates with Punjab State Government to help connect 17lakh farmers to the Punjab Mandi through the Ola app
• Available for any Government or Public Service Organization pro bono through the current COVID crisis

National, 16 April, 2020: Ola, India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, today announced that it is offering its technology platform and capabilities to Government and Public Service Organizations across the country amidst the COVID-19 crisis through its newly launched Ola CONNECTS (COmprehensive Navigation, NEtworking, Control andTracking Solution) initiative. Ola CONNECTS can be deployed as a turn-key solution or customised to specific requirements, to assist governments and its various agencies in managing Real-Time War Rooms for various operations at scale, amidst the ongoing COVID crisis with 100% data privacy and world class security. Keeping in mind national interest and welfare of citizens, Ola is offering the CONNECTS platform and required development solutions free of cost to the government and its various agencies.

The platform will have capabilities such as Navigation and Real-time tracking, to track millions of enrolled vehicles/people 24×7. User activity can be restricted to specific zones with alerting mechanisms on deviation through Geofencing Controls. Other capabilities include , Real-time Alert System and Crowd and Flow Management, which will enable Scheduling, Flow control and planning capabilities to support social distancing norms. Furthermore, AI-enabled Selfie Authentication will enable the authorities to conduct random checks to ensure all preventive measures like usage of masks are being strictly adhered to.

Ola CONNECTS can be replicated across various use cases including Emergency and Healthcare Support, Supply Chain Management, Law Enforcement, Frontline Resource Deployment, Incident and Information Response, and War-Room Management amongst others.

Speaking on the launch of Ola CONNECTS, Pranay Jivrajka, Co-Founder, Ola said, “With the widespread outbreak of COVID-19, nations across the globe are taking bold measures to counter the threat posed by the pandemic. India has been leading this fight by example, through implementation of strict on ground measures. As a platform that serves hundreds of millions of users everyday, our scale and innovations can be put to good use during these very challenging times.”

“By opening up Ola CONNECTS to various state governments and public service organisations across the country, we are able to offer a ready to deploy technology solution that addresses unique challenges in the various relief initiatives that are under way. All of Ola’s innovations across AI, tracking technologies, allocation and flow management are part of the CONNECTS platform. We are committed to serving the nation in every way possible and are offering this platform free of cost, dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of doctors, healthcare professionals and frontline staff  leading our fight against COVID-19.”

Ola also confirmed that it has collaborated with the Government of Punjab to provide officials with a medium to effectively track and manage over 17 lakh farmers’ produce and their vehicle movement into Mandis across the state while following the current social distancing norms. Working closely with the Punjab Government, Ola has shared its technology capabilities to provide a direct channel to pass authentic information to the farmers including distribution of security travel passes digitally thus eliminating the need of physical distribution which happens at large gatherings. Ola CONNECTS has a centralised dashboard which can track the movement of farmers along with their vehicles in and around the mandis enabling officials to manage the flow of farmers and the collection of their produce to prevent crowding. 

Ravi Bhagat, Secretary Punjab Mandi Board and Special Secretary, Governance Reforms said, “With essential services working with limited manpower, this unique partnership with Ola will help in minimising the disruption to the critical food supply network in the country by ensuring the safety of farmers as well as the mandi officials as per the protocols set by the Government. Ola CONNECTS is a powerful platform that stakeholders across the government can quickly deploy to benefit citizens at large amidst the ongoing crisis.”

Ola CONNECTS ensures that personal and confidential information received will be dealt with the highest standards of care and the data will be processed in accordance with applicable law and the Company’s existing privacy policy.

For further details visit https://www.olacabs.com/connects 

Reach out to us at connects@olacabs.com for any queries

About Ola

Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 250+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets like London and Sydney. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2.5 million driver-partners.

Ola’s core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric and Ola Fleet Technologies, India’s largest fleet management business. With its acquisition of Ridlr, India’s leading public transportation app and investment in Vogo, a dockless scooter sharing solution, Ola is looking to build mobility for the next billion Indians. Ola also extends its consumer offerings like micro-insurance and credit led payments through Ola Financial Services and a range of owned food brands with India’s largest network of cloud kitchens through Ola Foods.

Ola was founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati with a mission to build mobility for a billion people.

For more details, visit www.olacabs.com/media. 

Bengaluru, 16th April 2020: Ola Group, which operates Ola, India’s largest mobility platform, has joined hands with the Karnataka State Government in the fight against COVID-19 by pledging INR 50 lakhs to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF). The fund will be used to provide on-ground relief measures across the state of Karnataka in the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. The Ola Group includes various business units including its ride-hailing arm, Ola Mobility, Ola Financial Services, Ola Foods and Ola Electric.

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola Group said, “The Ola Group extends its humble contribution to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to support the on-ground relief measures by the state in fighting this pandemic. Bengaluru has been home for us at Ola for the past 8 years since the time we set up our headquarters here. We are committed to standing by the Karnataka State Government in this fight against COVID-19 and salute the efforts put forth by frontline warriors, and law enforcement officials, which has helped in controlling the contagion in the state. We are also thankful to the Government for collaborating deeply on various citizen focused initiatives, allowing us to contribute in these times of distress.”

Ola recently launched ‘Ola Emergency’ on its app to enable essential medical trips on its platform in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Government of Karnataka. The new category will bring a much-needed mobility solution for many citizens who do not have a mode of transport to access a hospital in case of a medical emergency. ‘Ola Emergency’ will enable over 200 hospitals to provide the service and ensure cabs are used only for essential medical travel. After Bengaluru, the service was launched in Gurugram, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Nashik, Varanasi and is slated to be launched in more cities in the weeks ahead.

The Ola Group has also been working towards multiple initiatives to support the driver community, who have been one of the worst-hit during these stressed times. Ola Foundation, the social welfare arm of the company, had recently launched the ‘Drive the Driver Fund.’ The fund aims to support cab, auto-rickshaw, and kaali-peeli taxi drivers across the country, through contributions from the Ola Group and through a crowdfunding platform for citizens and institutions. The Ola Group and its employees have already contributed INR 20 crores towards this cause, while Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Ola has forgone his 1 year’s salary towards the fund. This long term contingency fund will help drivers and their families through and beyond this pandemic, through various initiatives including financial support for medical emergencies as well as essential supplies distribution in driver communities. The Ola Group has also contributed a sum of ₹5 crores to the PM CARES fund earlier this week.

About Ola
Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 250+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets like London and Sydney. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2.5 million driver-partners.

Ola’s core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric and Ola Fleet Technologies, India’s largest fleet management business. With its acquisition of Ridlr, India’s leading public transportation app and investment in Vogo, a dockless scooter sharing solution, Ola is looking to build mobility for the next billion Indians. Ola also extends its consumer offerings like micro-insurance and credit led payments through Ola Financial Services and a range of owned food brands with India’s largest network of cloud kitchens through Ola Foods.

Ola was founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati with a mission to build mobility for a billion people.

For more details, visit www.olacabs.com/media.

New Delhi, 15th April 2020: Ola Group, which operates Ola, India’s largest mobility platform, has pledged a sum of INR 50 Lakhs towards the Delhi Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) to support COVID-19 relief measures in the city. The Ola Group includes various business units including its ride-hailing arm, Ola Mobility, Ola Financial Services, Ola Foods and Ola Electric.

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola Group said, “In the fight against COVID- 19, we stand together with the efforts of the Government of Delhi. The Chief Minister’s Relief Fund will be instrumental in providing on-ground relief and assistance to the worst affected in these times. With our humble contribution to the fund, we express our gratitude to the selfless service of tens of thousands of frontline staff, law enforcement personnel, govt officials and volunteers who are fighting this pandemic.” 

Ola Foundation, the social welfare arm of the company, had recently launched the ‘Drive the Driver Fund.’ The fund aims to support cab, auto-rickshaw, and kaali-peeli taxi drivers across the country, through contributions from the Ola Group and through a crowdfunding platform for citizens and institutions. The Ola Group and its employees have already contributed INR 20 crores towards this cause, while Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Ola has forgone his 1 year’s salary towards the fund. This long term fund will help drivers and their families through and beyond this pandemic, through various initiatives including financial support for medical emergencies as well as essential supplies distribution in driver communities. The Ola Group also contributed a sum of  INR 5 crores towards the PM CARES fund earlier last week.

Ola recently launched ‘Ola Emergency’ on its app to enable essential medical trips on its platform in cities such as Bengaluru, Gurugram, Visakhapatnam, Nashik, and Bhubaneswar and is poised to enter more cities including Delhi in the weeks ahead.  The new category will bring a much needed mobility solution for many citizens who do not have a mode of transport to access a hospital in case of a medical emergency.

About Ola
Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 250+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets like London and Sydney. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2.5 million driver-partners.

Ola’s core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric and Ola Fleet Technologies, India’s largest fleet management business. With its acquisition of Ridlr, India’s leading public transportation app and investment in Vogo, a dockless scooter sharing solution, Ola is looking to build mobility for the next billion Indians. Ola also extends its consumer offerings like micro-insurance and credit led payments through Ola Financial Services and a range of owned food brands with India’s largest network of cloud kitchens through Ola Foods.

Ola was founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati with a mission to build mobility for a billion people.

For more details, visit www.olacabs.com/media.