Indian Ride-Share Company Ola Has Launched in Melbourne

Another day, another international ride-share company driving around the streets of Melbourne. This time, it's an Indian-born platform called Ola, which we're told operates in over 110 cities, hosting a whopping one billion annual rides worldwide. That's over two million trips each day, and growing fast.

A mere few months after rival Taxify hit the country, Ola has followed up its launches in Perth and Sydney by zooming into Melbourne. You can request rides anywhere in the metro area, although you can't yet get a pick-up from the airport — that should be coming soon.

To entice Melburnians into giving it a go, it's also offering two free rides up to $20 for new users. After that, rides will be 50 percent off for a promotional period — although we don't have word on how long that will last for.

The company counts its driver-partner focused approach as its main point of difference, hoping to tempt Australian drivers with incentives and upskilling opportunities. As Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal explains, that should result in a more competitive industry all round. "With a strong focus on driver-partners and the community at large, we aim to create a high-quality and affordable travel experience for citizens and look forward to contributing to a healthy mobility ecosystem in Australia," he said.

Ola plans to launch in Brisbane, Canbera, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart and the Gold Coast soon.