Ola Soft launches in Australia; gives free rides in Perth

Indian cab-hailing company Ola announced that it has started offering its services in Perth, Australia. The company will be offering two free rides up to the value of $10 per ride in Australia's Perth city as a soft launch of its service with local partners.

The cab-hailing firm said, "Ola is offering affordable fares for customers and higher commissions for driver-partners to create a high-quality travel experience for Australia and is excited to start with the Perth community. Ola will build on these values as it launches across other cities in early 2018." Additionally, the soft launch also includes offers for the drivers, this includes a 7.5 percent driver commissions as compared to around 20 percent charged by Uber.

Customers in the Western Australian city can simply download the Ola app from the Android or the App Store, register for an Ola account and begin booking their rides.

The company had announced last month its plans of expanding in Australia. Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Agarwal said, “We are very excited about launching Ola in Australia and see immense potential for the ride-sharing ecosystem which embraces new technology and innovation.”