Uber, Ola to start rickshaw service in smaller cities

Ola and Uber Technologies are facing off again with three-wheeled autorickshaws in India’s poorer second-tier cities. Ola and Uber are moving deeper into the countryside as larger cities grow increasingly saturated. Apart from lower fares, there are other challenges; Ola for instance is offering classes on how to use a smartphone. Its mobile app now lets users summon three-wheelers and provides additional features such as location-tracking and an SOS button. “It makes great sense for app start-ups to offer autorickshaws in small cities,” said Jyot Chadha, India head for urban innovations at the World Resources Institute. Ola, part of a globe-spanning alliance trying to curtail Uber’s expansion, is expanding its network and adding services to stay one step ahead. The two already vie in motorcycles in addition to cars and even try to out-do each other on freebies such as Wi-Fi. Ola Auto, its autorickshaw variant, now covers two dozen cities—including Bhopal and Jodhpur—and is targeting more than two million bookings daily by 2017. Nitesh Prakash, Ola’s senior director for operations, estimates that the two dozen cities currently house three million autorickshaws offering 30 million rides daily. Uber started competing rides in two cities last week after a trial last year.