# Ola rivals Uber's Australian market dominance (75,000 drivers ??)



## Hugh G (Sep 22, 2016)

*
Ola rivals Uber's market dominance*


*Elouise Fowler*Reporter
Jul 22, 2019 - 11.33am
https://www.afr.com/technology/tech...ivals-uber-s-market-dominance-20190717-p527xr

A ride share company which pays its drivers more and pitches itself as the ethical alternative to Uber is gaining traction in the Australian market only a year after its launch: it now claims to have 13,000 more Australian drivers than Uber.

The Indian firm has raised almost $3.8 billion from backers including SoftBank since it was founded in 2011, which has allowed it to aggressively compete with Uber by charging customers the same rates but taking a lower cut of the cost of the ride from its drivers.

Ola's Australian managing director, Simon Smith, hopes his strategy of giving drivers a better cut and matching Uber's fee structure will attract another million customers by this time next year.










Simon Smith says Ola is closing the gap on Uber, despite paying its drivers a higher rate. _Dominic Lorrimer_

Ola takes a 15 per cent cut from its drivers' rides, while Uber takes up to 25-27.5 per cent depending on the driver's GST arrangements.

"One of the reasons we chose to launch in Australia, the first country outside India, was the very high margin that the incumbent [Uber] was making," Mr Smith said.

"Our arrangement allows drivers to take home more money, which is a fairer outcome."

*Ola claims it has attracted 75,000 drivers since it launched in March 2018.

Uber, which launched in Australia almost seven years ago, says it has 63,000 drivers on its books.*

_We have broken the monopoly in Australia _​ 
- Simon Smith, Ola MD

But the better rate for Ola drivers doesn't automatically translate to more cash in their pockets. Ola drivers are in much stronger competition with each other, vying for a pool of customers less than half the size of Uber's 3.8 million-strong customer base in Australia. Only 1.5 million Australians have downloaded Ola's app since the company's launch.

Mr Smith believes the size of the customer pool and number of drivers "indicates we have broken the monopoly in Australia".

But Uber's Australian and New Zealand head of strategy and planning, Dom Taylor, maintains "Uber in Australia has never been in a stronger position".

Since its launch, Ola claims to have fixed one of the major sticking points for customers: the long wait time it took a driver to respond to a customer pick-up request.

Ola said this has dropped to less than five minutes, on par with Uber.

Mr Smith also wanted to mark a point of difference with Uber, which legally transfers its profits offshore.

"When I joined the company, the tax arrangement situation was one of my very first questions, because I didn't want to be involved in any tax off-shoring," he said. "All companies based in Australia should pay their tax."


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## kooljp (Oct 31, 2017)

What a crock!

Ola is going down down, esp. in Melbourne


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## everythingsuber (Sep 29, 2015)

Don't mind Ola getting the PR and they have some share of the market but what Ola raised in funds last year Uber spends on advertising.

Ola needs Uber spending money and doing the heavy lifting in order to survive. If it wasn't for Uber spending a fortune recruiting drivers Ola would be out of business fairly quickly.

Its nice PR but Ola isn't fooling anyone in the industry ?


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## Lowestformofwit (Sep 2, 2016)

If this is correct, then there’s a lot of Uber cars on the road that also display completely invisible Ola stickers.


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## KawanaPete (Oct 25, 2015)

Lowestformofwit said:


> If this is correct, then there's a lot of Uber cars on the road that also display completely invisible Ola stickers.


Yeah i am one of them... Bloody ola sticker will not stay on glass in cold weather! Did 3 ola trips today. Down from previous days


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