Now, book a cab without internet on Ola

In an attempt to ensure uninterrupted mobility, India's home-grown taxi aggregator Ola has launched a new feature to book a cab without an internet on its mobile app on Tuesday.  

The company will roll out the new feature 'Ola Offline' in key metros of the country. 

The feature will be available across categories of Ola cabs- Micro, Mini, Prime and Lux. 

The company has piloted the new feature in smaller towns and cities like Indore and Nagpur and following the success it has now planned to roll out this new feature in 102 cities. The company will first launch the new feature in four cities and slowly will expand it to other cities. 

The 'Ola Offline' feature will enable customers to book a cab without internet on their smartphones.

The new feature of Ola works like this, if a customer attempts to book a cab on the Ola app in the absence of an internet connection, he or she will now get two options-Retry or Book via SMS.

Customers can choose to Retry option if they have come to a place with better internet connectivity or go with the second option which is Book via SMS.

The Book via SMS feature redirects users to their default messaging app where they will see a pre-entered text message requesting Ola to book a cab. On sending the text message, users will get an SMS with the particulars of the nearest available cabs across categories.

“While connectivity continues to be an infrastructural challenge, we are constantly building innovative technology that helps fill the gap, and the launch of the ‘Offline feature’ is a major step in that direction. We understand that while an Ola might be available around you, a working Internet connection might not always be. 'Ola Offline' will now plug this gap,” said Ola's co-founder and CTO Ankit Bhati in a statement.