Mission Smart Ride Ropes In Ola As Their Mobility Partner To Promote The Don’t Drink and Drive Campaign in Telangana for 2018

• Kicking off #PeekeMatChala this year too along with #AskForARide, Ola partners with MSR to enable ‘Zero DUI’ at 542 pubs and restaurants in Hyderabad
• API integration – Users to book Ola directly from MSR’s ‘Smart Waiter App’

Hyderabad, December 27, 2017: Mission Smart Rides (MSR) announced ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ campaign in collaboration with the Government of Telangana in Hyderabad back in Dec 2015 and since then, MSR has completed Responsible Alcohol Service level 1 training for bar staff of about 91% liquor establishments and has displayed posters at 98% of bars in Hyderabad. Ola, India’s most popular mobility platform, has been named as exclusive mobility partner for the 2018 campaign at  100 popular bars. Aimed at achieving ‘Zero DUI’, the campaign will see MSR and Ola work towards reducing or eliminating drunk driving in the city.

Special on-ground activities have been rolled out at 542 pubs and bars in Hyderabad to create awareness about safe commuting and responsible drinking. As a part of the collaboration, the Ola app has been integrated with MSR’s Smart Waiter App which will enable pubs and restaurants to book an Ola ride for their visitors/customers directly through the Smart Waiter App. Ola has also introduced special discounts and coupons, encouraging party-goers to take a cab and avoid driving under influence, ensuring that they reach their destination safely.

Jayesh Ranjan, Telangana State IT Principal Secretary said, “We have launched this Mission Smart Ride program back in 2015 under the visionary leadership of IT minister K.T.Rama Rao Garu and to date we have reviewed data on fatal road accidents in Hyderabad and it’s very encouraging to see major dip in road accidents over last 2 year period. Hence, we are providing all support needed to this MSR activities and closely tracking foundation strategies and their team work with various TS departments in order to improve Road safety on Hyderabad streets and highways, which can be eventually rolled out to other parts of Telangana too.”  

Bhagi Nanda Sandilya, Founder & CEO of MSR said, “Telangana is the first state in the country to adopt and implement the Mission Smart Ride initiative in collaboration with various stakeholders in the liquor value chain and we are very happy to have Ola as our mobility partner to achieve our zero DUI goal. This initiative aims to eliminate DUI incidents by training concerned bar staff, promoting responsible drinking habits to customers, improving road safety. Ola’s vast network and reach will certainly be an able support for our efforts in the years to come. The city of Hyderabad is beaming with festive fervor and we encourage people to party responsibly and use a cab or driver service depending on their situations rather than driving under influence. The two major accomplishments for MSR include complete MSR compliance executive training for 91% of bars in Hyderabad and 98% liquor establishments displaying the zero-drunken driving and underage drinking posters for customer awareness which helped to reduce fatal accidents in Hyderabad for more than 25% when compared to previous years.”

Sandeep Upadhyay, City Head – Hyderabad at Ola said, “We are proud to partner with Mission Smart Rides and Government of Telangana. We launched a pan-India initiative called #PeekeMatChala last year and are excited to further strengthen it with MSR’s don’t drink and drive campaign this time around. We have enabled API integrations and special discounts on Ola rides to encourage more and more people to not drive under influence in a bid to make our cities safer. We urge and seek support from residents of Hyderabad to help us achieve our goal of zero DUI.”

Ola is offering free first rides and a discount of 15% on repeat rides from popular pubs and restaurants within and around Hyderabad. Through its pan-India #PeekeMatChala campaign, the company has been encouraging citizens to understand the harmful effects of driving after consumption of alcohol, and take an Ola rather than opting to drive under influence.

About Mission Smart Rides:

A Road safety education foundation launched in 2015-2016 with registered office in Hyderabad, Mission smart ride brings all stakeholders in Alcohol value chain who are related to serving liquor responsibly and enhance their check out process to include Smart ride or driver. At MSR, we believe ROAD SAFETY is every citizen right & responsibility every day on every street and highways in India and around the world. MSR is committed to make it zero drunken driving & underage driving in every city or state within India by partnering with all stakeholders.

The Smart Waiter app is going to be available on Android and iOS platforms by early 2018. Please visit www.missionsmartride.org/media for more information.

About Ola:

Founded in Jan 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola (formerly Olacabs), is India’s most popular mobile app for personal transportation. Ola integrates city transportation for customers and driver partners onto a mobile technology platform ensuring convenient, transparent and quick service fulfillment. Ola is committed to its mission of building mobility for a billion people. Using the Ola mobile app, users across 110 cities can book from over 800,000 vehicles across cabs, auto-rickshaws and taxis. Ola has also introduced a range of shared mobility services on its platform like Ola Shuttle and Ola Share for commute and ride-sharing respectively. The app is available on Windows, Android and iOS platforms. Please visitwww.olacabs.com/media for more information.