Looking to get from one place to another and when trying to book a cab online you end up with a spotty 3G and 4G network coverage in that area. Or sometimes ran out of your data pack and find no way to get online. So how will you book a cab?
India’s leading mobile app for transportation, Ola has comes with what’s called ‘Ola Offline‘. As the name suggest you can book a cab using the Ola app when you find yourself without an active internet connection.
Ola Offline gets automatically activated whenever you have no internet connection. The app actually utilises the traditional SMS route for booking the cab. You just need to text message your current location to Ola via SMS. It’s then located cabs around you and offers an option to book it.
How book Ola cabs via SMS
- When you have no active internet connection, the Ola app offers two options – Retry or Book via SMS.
- When you choose the ‘Book via SMS‘, you will be redirected to your default messaging app.
- A message will be pre-entered with your current location details for requesting Ola to book a cab.
- Once you have sent the SMS, Ola will reply back with nearest available cabs in your location across various categories.
- You can then SMS back the preferred cab category, for which Ola will book the cab and send you the cab and driver details.
- Drivers, on the other hand, will receive your contact details and GPS triangulated location.
One bad point with Ola offline is that without internet connectivity, the ride details, GPS tracking, SOS button, and other features associated with the ride will not available to you. The details will only fill in when your internet connectivity resumes.
Ola Offline was first piloted in smaller cities like Indore and Nagpur, which is now being expanded to four metro cities. The service will roll out across all the 102 cities that Ola operates in within a few months.