Acquisition update

Personal transportation giant Ola Cabs has massively increased its profile over the years, since its creation in 2010, to become the largest taxi hailing service in India. 2015 has, in particular, been an excellent year for the Bengaluru-based company, with its acquisition of taxi aggregator TaxiForSure in March. Now, it has notched up another feather in its cap with the acquisition of trip-planning applications company Geotagg. According to insiders, the chief aim of Ola in its venture is the shoring up of its bus-shuttle service.

The shuttle bus angle

Ola’s first foray into providing shuttle bus services commenced in July, with its aggregation of tourist and chartered buses on its excellent platform. The aggregation of manifold transportation services has thus allowed it to provide a comprehensive travel solutions platform. Given the easy-to-access and highly efficient nature of its services, its shuttle bus services are likely to greatly boost the company’s revenues in a very short time. The pilot shuttle bus program has already started in Delhi NCR.

About Geotagg

Geotagg, founded by IIT-Madras graduates Akhilesh Koppineni and Krishna Chaitanya, looks set to help Ola overcome urban transportation issues. Given the highly congested and often chaotic nature of Indian urban roads, Geotagg’s services are likely to come in handy. The Transportation Engineering Department of IIT Madras collaborates with Geotagg in providing advanced passenger information systems, and providing all-round urban transportation solutions as a whole.

What we think

Buses are the foremost mode of travel in India, servicing over 70 million people each day. However, given the lack of aggregation and passenger amenities in the bus transportation segments, there is room for a lot of improvement in the quality of services available. Ola’s tie-up with Geotagg is sure to be a big leap forward for bus transport in India, improving the passenger experience as a whole, and further solidifying Ola’s position as the #1 provider of all-round transportation solutions in India.