# Ola are now live and operating in Hobart and Launceston



## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

No Hobart/Launceston forum and I don't know if there's any drivers in Tasmania or who post here, but the good news is both drivers and pax in Tasmania now have an alternative to Uber.

Article is paywalled, so I posted the full article as well as the link, for those who don't have a Newscorp subscription.










The launch of Ola in Hobart and Launceston means that Ola now operate in every Australian state and territory. It'll be interesting to see whether Ola gain much traction in Tasmania or not.

The part of the article that has me scratching my head though, is Ola saying they'll keep 20% of each fare after the 0% commission honeymoon period. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come for the rest of us around the country who drive Ola.


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## Krusty (Jan 26, 2018)

Hopefully they will reduce drivers rates from 10 bucks an hour to 7 because drivers are dumb ****s that are their own worst enemy, they all belong in a cardboard box sleeping on the footpath LOL


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Lien Left said:


> No Hobart/Launceston forum and I don't know if there's any drivers in Tasmania or who post here, ...


I suggested to the UberPeople people that the Canberra forum be expanded and redesignated as the Canberra, Darwin and Hobart forum.

Alas, my arguments weren't cogent enough to achieve this.

So the drivers of Hobart (and other parts of Tasmania) will have their own (separate) forum once they meet the requirements of having at least three active members from there regularly posting.


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## Krusty (Jan 26, 2018)

Jack Malarkey said:


> I suggested to the UberPeople people that the Canberra forum be expanded and redesignated as the Canberra, Darwin and Hobart forum.
> 
> Alas, my arguments weren't cogent enough to achieve this.
> 
> So the drivers of Hobart (and other parts of Tasmania) will have their own (separate) forum once they meet the requirements of having at least three active members from there regularly posting.


They still trying to work out what a plus 85 IQ driver like you is doing here in the first place, probably worried that it is some sort of Nigerian scam.


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## soontobeautomated (Apr 4, 2017)

Interesting that Ola are charging 20% commission after 4 weeks in Tassie.

Is this the first market that Ola are charging more than 15% in?


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## ANTe (Aug 22, 2019)

soontobeautomated said:


> Interesting that Ola are charging 20% commission after 4 weeks in Tassie.
> 
> Is this the first market that Ola are charging more than 15% in?


Yeah it'll be the first time Ola have charged their drivers 20% commission anywhere in Australia.
This move by Ola is mind boggling, how can they expect to crack the Tassie rideshare market with this move?

Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come for the rest of us around Australia.
Bolt increasing their commission in Melbourne to 25% followed by DiDi bringing in their Advance program which includes commission of up to 19% was bad enough.


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## everythingsuber (Sep 29, 2015)

ANTe said:


> Yeah it'll be the first time Ola have charged their drivers 20% commission anywhere in Australia.
> This move by Ola is mind boggling, how can they expect to crack the Tassie rideshare market with this move?
> 
> Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come for the rest of us around Australia.
> Bolt increasing their commission in Melbourne to 25% followed by DiDi bringing in their Advance program which includes commission of up to 19% was bad enough.


It's a given. Tasmania is an incredibly small market though and recovering ongoing costs for any infrastructure involved in setting up operations won't be easy.


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## ANTe (Aug 22, 2019)

everythingsuber said:


> It's a given. Tasmania is an incredibly small market though and recovering ongoing costs for any infrastructure involved in setting up operations won't be easy.


Fair enough regarding your point about Tasmania being a small market and Ola needing to recover ongoing costs.

Do you think Ola are just doing this in Tassie for reasons already mentioned?
Or do you think they'll increase commission for all their drivers in Australia?

I sincerely hope it's the former and there's nothing else to see, or anything to worry about for us mainland drivers who are on 15% commission.


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

When Uber began in Canberra on 30 October 2015, it charged the Canberra drivers a service fee of 25% (later increased to 27.5% to include GST) from the first day even though drivers in all other Australian cities in which Uber was then operating paid 20%.

On 24 April 2016, Uber increased its service fee to 25% (later further increased to 27.5% to include GST) for drivers throughout Australia if they first onboarded with Uber from that date; if the driver had first onboarded before 24 April 2016, they continued to pay the 20% service fee (later increased to 22% to include GST) unless they were Canberra drivers.

These grandfathered arrangements still apply.

My understanding is that Uber was under no legal obligation to grandfather the 20% fee for those who had onboarded before 24 April 2016 and could legally have charged 25% to all drivers but chose not to.

Will history repeat itself with Ola? Will Ola in a few weeks or months increase its service fee to 20% throughout Australia and, if so, will it grandfather the 15% rate?


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## ANTe (Aug 22, 2019)

@Jack Malarkey if Ola do in fact increase their commission in June as rumours are suggesting, it'll be too early for them to do it with or without grandfathered arrangements for older drivers.

I've liked the moves they've made so far since coming to Australia, especially their plan to be in every city/area in Australia which has Uber, but this would be the wrong move if they do decide to go ahead with it.


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