Ride-hailing major Ola has claimed that its self-drive car-sharing service has witnessed 100 per cent growth in daily bookings, particularly over weekends, in the wake of the scheduled holidays. The average number of kilometres and hours pre-booked by customers has also quadrupled for the upcoming holiday season. Majority of the bookings made are for road trips and short holiday getaways, averaging 800 km per trip, with nearly 40 per cent of the bookings topping 1,000 km, Ola said.
The company had introduced its pilot project in October to tap India’s largely underserved self-drive market. In India, out of 300 million motor vehicles registered, only 10,000 cars operate in the self-drive space.
“India’s mobility industry is undergoing a transformational phase, dictated by the preferences of younger consumers. This holiday season, the platform has witnessed high advance booking requests for Ola Drive and we are expecting a similar pattern with on-demand booking as well. Customers are embracing self-drive car services such as Ola Drive, which provides them easy access to cars that can be customised to suit the users’ preference,” said an Ola spokesperson.
The self-drive services will soon be rolled out in Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi, after Bengaluru. The ride-hailing firm said that it plans to add a fleet of 20,000 cars by 2020, which is roughly 50 per cent the fleet size of the entire industry right now, to scale up the services across major Indian cities. Ola said that its subscriber base in the country has already touched 200 million.
“There is a huge demand for cars that offer an enjoyable driving experience and fitted with state-of-the-art technology. Users of Ola Drive get a standard seven-inch touch screen system with GPS navigation, on-board media, Bluetooth connectivity, 24x7 tracking and a dedicated emergency response system. The most sought-after cars with consumers this holiday season are Suzuki Swift, Toyota Innova Crysta and Hyundai Creta, with the Toyota Innova commanding the highest demand at 70 per cent utilisation,” an Ola statement said.
Expansion on cards
The ride-hailing company, Ola, said that it plans to add a fleet of 20,000 cars by 2020, which is roughly 50 per cent the fleet size of the entire industry right now, to scale up its services across major Indian cities. The company claimed that its subscriber base in the country has already touched 200 million.