Ola, the ride hailing company, has launched a new UK corporate service aimed specifically at business travel and as an alternative to the company car.

Ola Corporate is aimed at fleets looking to diversify their mobility options and provides a centralised billing and a customised ride policy to help businesses organise travel for their employees.

The company has predicted that it can save up to 25% off ground travel expenses for employees when compared to alternative options by “streamlining processes and introducing end-to-end solutions”.

Uber-rival Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and has been operating in the UK since 2018.

It has since expanded rapidly establishing a presence across 27 local authorities in South Wales, the South West, Merseyside, West Midlands, and Reading. It started operating in London in February this year.

The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across various forms of transport. It has over two million driver partners that use the Ola app globally.

Marc Rozendal, Ola UK managing director, said: “The launch of Ola Corporate continues to demonstrate our ability to grow and diversify in the UK.”

Rozendal said Ola has seen demand double in the UK in the last four weeks as more coronavirus lockdown measures have been lifted.

Ola Corporate clients will operate the service through a new, personalised dashboard where they can add and manage employees.

Employees then book their own rides on their app as they would for personal journeys and tag the ride as a corporate ride.

The fares are paid automatically through the company’s Ola Corporate account and can be viewed and downloaded from the dashboard.

Clients will also have access to a specialised account management support team at Ola to offer support.

All drivers that use the Ola app must follow the company’s safety guidelines, which includes the requirement that drivers clean and disinfect cars between each ride.