India’s largest cab hailing platform Ola, which has spread its operations to the UK, Australia and New Zealand in recent years, has set up its own think tank, a global mobility institute based out of the US. The policy research and social innovation unit consists of researchers drawn from some of the top universities including the Oxford and Harvard. In an interaction with BusinessLine , Anand Shah, Senior Vice-President for strategic initiatives at Ola, shares the research unit’s plans for the company as well as helping governments to frame better policies on urban mobility.

What are the issues that Ola Mobility Institute plans to address?

Ola Mobility Institute (OMI) works at the intersection of mobility, innovation, and social impact. OMI will initially focus on knowledge frameworks to better understand the social and economic impact around five areas of mobility as a service, the climate footprint of mobility innovations, skill development and job creation, transportation-oriented urban planning, and the digitisation of mobility.

What kind of outcomes do you expect from OMI’s studies?

OMI has been created with the objective of developing knowledge frameworks at the intersection of mobility and public good. It focuses on leveraging the “disruptive” potential of mobility as a growth and innovation engine for India’s economy. OMI has developed a unique framework to evaluate mobility scenarios in cities. The framework, aptly titled the Ease of Moving Index, has considered 50 plus parameters grouped under the three pillars of People, Infrastructure, and Sustainability.

For the first edition, over 43,000 citizens spread across 20 Indian cities were interviewed on all aspects of mobility. The Ease of Moving Index has been put together with the goal of presenting these key findings to city planners and administrators, to develop a more accurate roadmap towards sustainable mobility that also factors in the needs and aspirations of citizens as well as estimates of the demand for mobility in the future.

How will it benefit Ola in terms of providing better solutions to its customers?

Being one of the largest players in its field, Ola has a unique vantage point to observe challenges such as vehicular congestion, under-utilisation of vehicular and public resources, road and passenger safety, etc. Our experience in developing solutions that meet customer and driver needs can be a significant source of data to work with policymakers and innovators to address growing challenges around moving people and goods. Through the OMI, Ola looks to develop rigorous, data-backed knowledge that could assist a variety of stakeholders develop constructive policy and modern solutions.

Can the local government use these findings to improve its current mobility infrastructure?

Yes. The Index talks about the current mobility scenario and provides extremely interesting and relevant insights about the cities where the survey has been conducted. The granular details will enable local governments and city planners to easily identify the areas that need immediate intervention and take necessary steps towards improving the current mobility structure.

The Institute, as we understand, also plans to focus on electric mobility. What plans has it lined up for making that a reality?

The Institute has launched “Mission: Electric” to convene mobility providers and leverage their fleets to make electric mobility viable at scale. It builds on Ola’s knowledge base, data capabilities, and practical experience in putting hundreds of electric vehicles on road. As a part of this program, Ola has committed to put 1 million electric vehicles on the road in the next three years.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW