Taxi Driver Online

Taxi-hailing firm Ola wants to operate in Bournemouth

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/ ... urnemouth/

INDIAN taxi-hailing firm Ola is seeking permission to operate in Bournemouth.

The multi-billion pound company is seeking to continue its expansion across the UK, having already been awarded licences by local authorities across the South West and south Wales.

The firm says it is aiming to ‘become an intrinsic part of the transportation ecosystem’ in Bournemouth and is intending to have 150 vehicles available before the borough council considers its application.

Founded in 2011, Ola made its first expansion outside of India in February last year when it started running in Australia.

Over the course of 2018, the firm was issued licences across parts of south west England and south Wales, including Bristol and Newport.

Members of Bournemouth council’s licensing board will consider its request to begin operating in Bournemouth on Thursday (January 10).

Its application says: “It is Ola’s intention to be an inclusive transportation platform serving the mobility needs of its people in both a reliable and transparent manner and become an intrinsic part of the transportation ecosystem.

“Ola will be the only mobile app offering both private hire vehicles and black cabs on its platform and steadily encourage adoption of ultra low-emission electric vehicles.”

The firm is planning to base itself in an office unit in the town and appoint a ‘day-to-day operations manager’ who will ‘liaise’ with its London headquarters ‘to roll-out marketing and operational activities in Bournemouth’.

Competition in the taxi app market in the town was boosted last year with the launch of Cab Comparison which has already signed up companies including Mobile Radio Cars, Parkstone Cars, Liberty Cars and Dorset Airport Taxis to its platform.

US-based market rival Uber had also planned to move into Bournemouth but withdrew its plans in 2017.

Ola made its intentions to move into the town public at the end of November when it sent an overview of its business plan to the council before lodging its application for a private hire operators’ licence.

The application will be considered by the council’s licensing board at its meeting on Thursday, January 10.

Wonder how they'll manage to have 150 vehicles before the application is considered?


A cab firm, they mean


Do they have black cabs in Bournemouth?

I suspect the existing Uber cars will sign up, maybe make a commitment before Ola get licensed.

Maybe in 10 years time PH will have multiple apps offering them work.

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IDFIMH

Nope, just horrible yellow things.

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IDFIMH

Like these, you mean

Indeed, but I suspect they are generally in far better nick than the yellow taxis of Derby.

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IDFIMH

And shade of yellow not quite so bright either. More like a mustard. Or another word ending in -tard


Image: Derby Telegraph/Victoria Wilcox


Image: Derby Telegraph

The Bournemouth taxis is a faded shade of yellow , hideous in my view .

If I was forced to choose, would go for the Bournemouth yellow over the Derby one. That's ignoring the white stripe on the Bournemouth motors, though...

Taxi-hailing firm Ola allowed to operate in Bournemouth

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/ ... urnemouth/

INDIAN taxi-hailing firm Ola has been granted a licence to operate across Bournemouth – as long as it improves its wheelchair accessibility options.

Members of Bournemouth council’s licensing board agreed to award an operator’s licence to the company on Thursday, praising the safety features it has in place.

The app-based service will now be able to offer its service across the borough while discussions are also being held to expand it into Poole.

Unlike its competitors, including Uber and Lyft, Ola has a pool of drivers using licensed Hackney carriages as well as private hire vehicles.

A series of licences have been awarded to the firm by councils across the South West and south Wales since it began its expansion into the UK at the beginning of 2017.

Its app can already be used in cities including Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff while the company’s senior operations manager, Wouter Merkestein said that “positive discussions” had been held with Poole and Portsmouth council officers.

The firm has said that it is its intention to recruit about 150 drivers in Bournemouth as well as to appoint a “day-to-day operations manager” to oversee its work in the borough.

Its request for a licence was considered at Thursday’s meeting of the council’s licensing board.

At the meeting, Mr Merkestein said that the UK was the first step of its expansion into Europe.

“For the UK, we have communicated our plans to be in every place where a competitor is, so we have applied for a large number of licences and have been granted several as well,” he said.

“Our focus is on this area but we have several [licence applications] across the country which are in hand and have been applied for or are being prepared as we speak.

“In this area, we have the one licence in Southampton and have had positive feedback in Portsmouth and positive discussions in Poole so far as well.”

Councillors questioned how well the app catered to people with disabilities and, despite agreeing to grant the licence, requested that this be improved as a condition of the approval.

Committee chairman, Cllr Andrew Morgan, said: “We have decided that we are prepared to grant an operator’s licence for Ola to operate in Bournemouth.

“We would, however, condition you to have an option to choose wheelchair accessible vehicles and see their availability.

“We feel customers should have that choice – it’s one of our key objectives to help people of all abilities get around comfortably and safely.”

Who'd have thought this statement in the piece about the application was complete nonsense?

You really don't like that do you?

It's pure spin, but looks nice on paper.

That said, I'm not sure it would take them long to get those 150 drivers/vehicles.

Most of the current drivers on Uber will merely add the Ola app to their phones.

It's the way things are going.

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IDFIMH