Coronavirus: Uber, Ola suspend pool ride services across India

Both cab hailing companies have announced that they are suspending their shared ride options till further notice.

Ola and Uber have suspended its ride sharing service in India until further notice. (HT Photo)

Uber and Ola have announced they are suspending their pool ride services in favour of social distancing till further notice as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. Understandably, this decision follows the fact that both these cab-hailing companies witnessed a huge drop in its pool services recently as people are afraid to share rides with strangers amidst COVID-19 fears.

"We are determined to help reduce the spread of coronavirus in the cities we serve. With that in mind, we are suspending the Uber Pool service across India. In line with the Government advisory, we urge people to stay safe and discourage non-essential travel," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement.

Metro cities, which give Uber (and Ola) the biggest bulk of business, have seen the biggest drop over the last couple of days.

Uber announced today that they were suspending their Share rides. When you open the app to book a cab, the shared option still shows up but there is no price showing next to it unlike the other options. Clicking on it further shows that i is 'temporarily unavailable'. The BikeShare option is still available, however.

Ola has also said that they are temporarily suspending its pool ride option called Ola Share.

"In our efforts to curb the spread of COVID- 19, we are temporarily suspending the 'Ola Share' category until further notice," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

"The temporary suspension of Ola Share services is an attempt to encourage social distancing for all cases of essential travel for citizens," the company added.