Ola enters inter-city trade

Taxi aggregator Ola is keen to tap the inter-city taxi market. It has so far been into intra-city services. Ola initially piloted an intercity (outstation) service in Delhi. It has also rolled out the service in Mumbai with a base fare of Rs. 2500. A fixed charge for up to 250 km within first 24 hours of travel is levied. For every additional kilometre rupees nine are levied. Additionally, Rs. 250 is charged in case of night travel. These charges are exclusive of toll and parking. Not just that, Ola will bill passengers for a round trip always. No wonder, that in a bid to attract drivers, the company has claimed that it would reimburse the drivers when they do a oneway trip. In a statement, the SoftBank backed company is known to have said that for inter-city service, it will deploy part of its mini and prime category fleet. It is for the second time that the company is venturing into inter-city services. The earlier instance was in 2010. The plan to once again concentrate upon inter-city services is said to be a way of increasing revenue. If industry sources are to be believed, inter-city services is a USD four to six billion business.