Major tech giants around the globe have been taking measures to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. Uber and Ola too are doing their part by making some necessary changes to their services. Both ride-hailing giants have terminated the option to hire pooling car services in India temporarily.
When you try to book a cab, you can see in the screenshots below that the ‘Uber Pool’ option has been marked as ‘temporarily unavailable’ whereas Ola has removed the ‘Ola Share’ option altogether. Both the ride-hailing giants are taking precautions, enforcing the idea of social distancing (by not allowing several random people travel together) in their cabs.
In an official blog post, Ola states, “The health and safety of our driver-partners and customers are of utmost importance and we’ve taken several steps in this regard to ensure the highest levels of hygiene are maintained in the vehicles on the platform. The temporary suspension of Ola Share services is an attempt to encourage social distancing for all cases of essential travel for citizens.”
Ola further states that it will continue to offer all other cab options including Micro, Mini, and Prime, as well as Rental and Outstation services. Uber, on the other hand, has shared an advisory via its app saying, “Please help flatten the curve by taking a moment to consider if this trip is essential. This will help limit the spread of COVID-19 and make sure rides are available for those who truly need them.”
Uber and Lyft have already stopped offering pooling services globally. For all those unaware, the ride-hailing giants allow users to take rides with other passengers and split the fare under the pooling category. COVID-19 has put the brakes on numerous businesses and the cab-hailing giants are one of the worst affected. Demand for cabs has dipped around 50 percent in India, as per reports.
