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In the immediate aftermath of the news that the ride operator Uber has had their licence to operate in London suspended, a rival has announced that they are about to launch in the capital.
The Indian app Ola are already recruiting ex-Uber drivers within the M25 for a full launch in the very near future.
It isn’t widely known yet if existing Hackney Carriage drivers will take the same dim view towards this new competitor.
According to City AM:
Ride-hailing app Ola has fired the starting gun in the race to recruit Uber drivers and customers, announcing it will soon launch in London.
The Indian ride-hailing app today announced it had begun on-boarding drivers in London and would launch in the coming weeks.
The company had an apparent jab at Uber, saying the launch meant “50,000 licensed drivers will now be assured that they can continue to provide mobility services in London”.
The announcement comes just one day after Transport for London (TfL) refused to grant Uber a new operating licence for a “pattern of failures” around passenger safety.
The regulator said it was not confident the app had a “robust system for protecting passenger safety”, after it found unlicensed and uninsured drivers using the platform.
The Silicon Valley giant will appeal the decision and can continue to operate in the capital during this process.
Ola launched in the UK in Cardiff last year and now has drivers in Birmingham, Liverpool, Exeter, Reading, Bristol, Bath, Coventry and Warwick.
TfL awarded a licence to the app in July.
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