Ola and Google Join Hands to Bring Outstation Cabs to Maps

KOCHI:
Ola, India’s most popular mobile app for transportation, announced a unique association with Google for its Outstation category. Commuters travelling between cities will now be able to discover Ola Outstation, a smart mobility solution for inter-city travel on Google Maps for mobile, thereby, directing customers to the Ola app to conveniently complete the booking.
The integration aims to enable access to a reliable and convenient mode of commute for long distance travel. This first of its kind association in India enables bookings from 23 cities to over 215 one-way routes in the country. In the coming weeks, the integration will be expanded to a total of 500 routes.
Covering a significant number of routes across cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and several others, the integration will make Ola Outstation category accessible to an even wider customer base and bring a more fluid and convenient experience for travelers. Once the destination is keyed in on Google Maps, the commuter can navigate to the transit tab and choose Ola as the commute option, upon which, they will be taken directly to the booking screen on the Ola app.
Google Maps is the most widely used platform for navigation; a one-stop- shop for point-to- point commute.
Similarly, Ola Outstation is a comprehensive offering for inter-city travel, a solution connecting hundreds of cities with safe and convenient commute options. The two coming together is sure to add immense value to the commute experiences of customers.
Elaborating on the partnership Vijay Ghadge, VP of Operations at Ola said, “Google and Ola, have been joining forces time and again with a strategic goal in mind – enhancing customer experience, and catering to a wide number of use cases. This time around, we are bringing a very unique experience for long distance commuters – enabling access to our Outstation category on Google Maps itself. Be it first-timers or frequent business travelers, we are certain that this integration will add value for all use cases. Ola Outstation has gained
significant prominence in the past year since its launch, this association takes us a step further in making the category as reliable and convenient as intra-city commute.” Vijay further added, “As Ola’s growth story scales newer heights, we will continue to work with Google and combine synergies on several more fronts to provide the best service to our customers.”
In October last year, Ola integrated its intra-city cab travel options with Google Maps, enabling customers to discover cab options with estimated fares and ETAs. The integration especially, adds value for customers searching for directions on Google Maps when visiting different cities or navigating through unfamiliar routes. It provides a single-window view of directions and cab options for intra-city travel, enabling a more fluid experience between apps. This prompted the two customer-focussed transportation brands to come together once again and extend the same seamless experience to inter-city travel customers.
Ola Outstation comes with the best fleet of cars and, trained, verified and top rated driver partners. To ensure that the customer enjoys a smooth and comfortable on-road experience, every cab on the Outstation category goes through stringent checks. With one-way trips enabled from 80 cities already, the category is set to grow substantially over the next few months.