Auckland, Christchurch & Wellington in Ola’s New Zealand trip

BENGALURU: Ride-sharing app Ola announced plans to begin operations in New Zealand, starting with Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, without specifying a launch date. This will be the third international market expansion for Ola this year after it launched operations in Australia in February and in the UK in August.

The move is in line with the company’s strategy of expanding to locations where there are significant Indian migrant populations, low regulatory challenges, and higher ticket sizes per ride. ET had reported in January that Ola planned to expand to New Zealand.

The company has hired Brian Dewil as the country manager for New Zealand. “I’m excited to build the local team and business in New Zealand and provide a healthy contribution to the nation’s local mobility infrastructure,” he said in a statement.

Ola will compete with Uber in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and Zoomy in Auckland and Wellington. To lure drivers, the company is offering them a low commission rate of 9% as opposed to the standard market rate of 20-25%.