COVID-19: Uber And Ola Halt All Operations In Delhi NCR

As the COVID-19 outbreak is haunting the world, tech giants have been making efforts in preventing the spread of the virus. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Twitter have already allowed their employees to work from home. Apple and Microsoft have closed all of their stores.

And now, Uber and Ola are doing their part. The two ride-hailing giants have made some changes to their services. Pooling car services will be temporarily unavailable for customers in India.

In the Uber app, if you look at the “Uber Pool” option, it is now marked as “temporarily unavailable.” Meanwhile, the “Ola Share” option has been removed from the Ola app.

This move from both the ride-hailing companies is to enforce the idea of social distancing in their cabs by not allowing random people to travel together.

In its official blog post, Ola states that what the company cares about most is the safety and health of its customers and driver-partners. The company has been trying to maintain the highest levels of hygiene in its vehicles.

While Ola Share services are now temporarily suspended, other cab options which include Micro, Mini, and Prime and Rental and Outstation service will be continued.

On the other hand, Uber has shared in its app an advisory to urge people to consider if it is necessary to take this trip. By doing this, it will help limit the spread of the virus and ensure that rides are available for people who truly need them.

Globally, Uber and Lyft have suspended their pooling services. For those who don’t know, with car-pooling service, people split the fare with other passengers by sharing rides with them. The COVID-19 outbreak has affected numerous businesses. Among them, cab-hailing companies are one of the most affected. Reports suggest that the demand for cabs has dropped by about 50% in India.

Update: Uber and Ola have halted all their operations in Delhi NCR following the lockdown announcement from the state government.

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