New Delhi: Transportation app Ola on Tuesday introduced the electric rickshaw catagory on its mobile app to enable the users to book rides on the electric vehicle in the Delhi-NCR region.
“A total of 5,100 Ola e-rickshaws will be launched in partnership with Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC) and deployed across Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. This will be further scaled up in the coming months to more small towns and tier III cities,” Ola chief operating officer Pranay Jivrajka said.
While the company will charge a 10 per cent commission from the rickshaw-pullers, it will, however, not charge any convenience fee from users as is the case with auto-rickshaws.
While the fare will differ from city to city, users will have to pay Rs 25 for 2 km and Rs 8 per km for the following distance. They can pay cash or use Ola Money, the company’s wallet service. “We will soon launch ride sharing options, which will bring down the cost,” Jivrajka said without disclosing a timeline.
Estimates suggest there are five million rickshaw-pullers in the country. With over 60 per cent of the India’s population residing in small towns, Ola aims to strengthen mobility in these towns with the e-rickshaw initiative, Jivrajka added. “Citizens in these cities and towns currently suffer from lack of convenient and reliable mobility options, especially for short distances. E-rickshaws are an affordable and greener alternative that can serve mobility needs unique to these small towns and cities in India,” he said.
Apart from financial support for procuring e-rickshaws, Ola and BMC will also set up skill development centres in these towns to enable continuous skilling and training for thousands of rickshaw driver-entrepreneurs. Ola already has about 80,000 auto-rickshaws and 3.5 lakh cabs on its platform.
