Homegrown cab aggregator Ola has inked a partnership with Google Maps to allow long distance commuters to discover and book Ola’s Outstation category of cabs on Google Maps.
Once the destination is keyed in on Google Maps on mobile, 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.
According to a statement by the company, the integration aims to enable access a 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.
The integration covers routes across cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and several others.
Speaking of 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…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.”
We will continue to work with Google and combine synergies on several more fronts to provide the best service to our customers, he added.
Ola first integrated its intra-city cab travel with Google Maps in October enabling customers to discover cab options with estimated fares and ETAs.
Ola launched Outstation cabs last year and also enabled one-way trips from 80 cities. A per the company, the category is set to grow substantially over the next few months.