Ola closing down in Australia

[oz_mark]

Go this today, interesting they are taking access to the app away altogether.

Ola will discontinue operations in your area on 12th April 2024. This means that you will no longer be able to book any rides through your Ola app from that date. You must not take any rides with any vehicle purporting to be an Ola vehicle or Ola driver from 12th April 2024. Ola has not authorised any driver or any other party to use the Ola brand or provide rides on Ola's behalf.

Your Account Information: You will still be able to access your account information from your app and raise any queries or issues to our Customer Care team through the usual channels for a period of 30 days until 11th May 2024. After 11th May 2024, you will no longer have access to your app.

Might be worth noting that one hasn't been able to catch Ola from the airport for a few months

 

[VPS]

Brisbane that someone on another platform posted

 

[oz_mark]

Sounds like they may be pulling the plug on Australia.

 

[elanshin]

No room for many rideshare services especially as most of these companies are not profitable. With DiDi trying to grab marketshare with aggressive offers, uber still holding dominant position, it's hard for anyone else to survive right now.

 

[dk4]

Sounds like they may be pulling the plug on Australia.

When in their cars, I often talk to ride share drivers about their experiences on the different platforms, and generally there has been consensus that ola is a dud. A few said they thought it had already closed down, only one said he liked ola.

In the competition between India, China & the USA, in Australia, India was always a very distant third, so unsurprising they are disappearing from the landscape. (Plus their app was very basic and user-unfriendly IMO.) In terms of delivering business to drivers using all 3 apps, in my small personal sample, it seemed to average around the 68/30/2 percent mark, for uber, didi, then ola respectively.

I have started using didi recently (after uber began sometimes randomly defaulting to uberXL or other services rather than uberX when I requested a ride... and I got caught out with a very expensive MEL ride, in an XL which I didn't need.)

Drivers also seem to prefer didi, as they take less commission compared to uber. I prefer it on price, with regular discounts on top of that already reasonable price. (The actual physical transport product is obviously the same, as the same drivers/cars use both didi and uber.)

At first the wait time between ordering a car and the car arriving was significantly longer on didi than uber, but that difference has rapidly reduced recently. (Although better in Melbourne than Sydney, IME. I haven't used didi in Perth yet, only uber.)

 

[SeaWolf]

Looks like that's it for Ola in Australia. Last day of service will be Friday:

Major rideshare platform appears set to exit Australia within days

www.9news.com.au

Uber ride-share rival Ola hits the brakes in Australia

Ride-share company Ola will end its operations in Australia after six years, warning customers of the closure in...

www.canberratimes.com.au

Velocity recently ending their arrangement with them makes a lot of sense now.

 

[Kremmen]

At 17:38 this afternoon, 11 April, I received the email. That's rather short notice, wouldn't you say?

 

[cambriamarsh]

At 17:38 this afternoon, 11 April, I received the email. That's rather short notice, wouldn't you say?

And closing in NZ too

 

[VPS]

No loss

 

[kpc]

Deleted my payment options and uninstalled the app. Shame as Ola kept Uber in check...often cheaper than Uber. Now mainly uses Didi as they keep offering me big discounts...eg fare to Syd International airport from my home can be less than $40...taxi would be >$80!

 

[Pele]

Doing everyone a favour. Their back end security(or lack of) with credit card data was unacceptable and the government should have closed them down years ago.

 

[Danger]

Ola will discontinue operations in your area on 12th April 2024. This means that you will no longer be able to book any rides through your Ola app from that date.

You must not take any rides with any vehicle purporting to be an Ola vehicle or Ola driver from 12th April 2024. Ola has not authorised any driver or any other party to use the Ola brand or provide rides on Ola's behalf.

Unless Ola is shutting down worldwide, everyone, I don't understand why the email says this. It reads as though, because I'm (apparently) registered in Australia, that's it for my entire relationship with Ola, no matter where I travel.

 

[http_x92]

Felt like it is between Didi and Uber, fair play to Didi keeping themselves in it with all those discounts and now they have stickers on some cars. When the Travel rate is there during low demand it is cheaper going to the airport. Didn't remember Ola at all.

Dont mind walking 10 minutes from the domestic terminal to the rideshare area (where Uber used to be) for something a bit cheaper.

 

[AIRwin]

Sounds like Velocity is announcing a new partnership with DiDi:

This airline has a rewards seat to Europe every day in July

Qantas has a frequent flyer program competitor nagging at its heels, with Aussies signing up to Virgin Australia’s Velocity in droves.

www.afr.com

 

[tdimdad]

What are the permissions required for DiDi app (Android)? Last time I checked a couple of years ago, the app wanted rather invasive permissions to your whole life, essentially. It's enough for me that Google knows everything about me, probably more than I know myself.

If the DiDi app is more reasonable these days (and doesn't leak everything to their local government), I'm in, too.

 

[SeaWolf]

What are the permissions required for DiDi app (Android)?

I've just got mine set up with Location and Notifications allowed. There's other permission (such as camera for scanning QR codes, Phone for calling the driver etc.) but they aren't needed for the app to work.

 

[http_x92]

1000 VFF points to link account plus 1 VFF / $ on all rides.

Not bad if you combine it with the frequent vouchers they give out.