Bhavish Aggarwal Launches Ola Prime Plus In Bengaluru

Ride-hailing unicorn Ola’s cofounder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal took to Twitter on Sunday (May 28) to announce the launch of the company’s new premium cab service, the Ola Prime Plus, in Bengaluru.

“Prime Plus: Best drivers, top cars, no cancellations or operational hassles. Will go live for select customers in Bangalore today. Do try it out,” said Aggarwal on Twitter.

Currently, in the pilot phase, Aggarwal added that he would be “using it frequently” and share his experiences of the service on Twitter. According to the screenshot shared by the Ola cofounder, rides booked via Prime Plus would be cheaper than Ola Mini, the cheapest cab offering on the ride-hailing platform.

It needs to be clarified whether the service would charge the customers extra or it would be a subscription service, akin to something like Zomato Pro, which includes restaurants offering additional discounts for Pro users.

Ola operates Mini, Auto and Bike and users can also book Prime Sedan, Prime SUV, and Rentals on its app as of now. Earlier this year, Ola also announced its entry into the premium EV category with a fleet of 10,000 cars.

Back then as well, Ola promised similar perks as to Prime Plus: top-rated drivers, 100% ride assurance and zero cancellations, along with 100% cashless payments. 

Ola was also planning to offer the EV service as a “premium offering” which will not have cancellations by drivers. Cancellation by drivers after booking a cab is one of the major issues faced by customers in the Indian ride-hailing market. 

However, reportedly Ola will be keeping both verticals separate from one another; the perks for Prime Plus and Ola’s EV service just happen to overlap.

The move comes off the back of a tough few months for the ride-hailing unicorn. 

Earlier this year, Inc42 reported Ola conducting a restructuring exercise, which saw around 200 employees being laid off from its tech and product teams, with engineering roles being impacted the most.

In May, one of its investors, Vanguard Group, reduced the valuation of the ride-hailing startup by 35%, from $7.4 Bn to $4.8 Bn.

The startup has been cutting costs, beyond firing employees, to chase profitability as it ramps up for an IPO.

Over the past few months, Ola has shut down cash-guzzling verticals such as infotainment service Ola Play, used-cars platform Ola Cars and quick-commerce vertical Ola Dash and has fired thousands of employees in the process.