Taxi-hailing firm Ola starts operating in Wales

Indian taxi-hailing giant Ola begins operating in Cardiff, Newport and Vale of Glamorgan on Monday.

The company announced earlier this month it would be moving into the UK, with south Wales and Greater Manchester its first ports of call.

Founded in 2011, Ola continues to challenge Uber around the world and has 125 million customers and a presence in 110 cities.

The firm said it hoped to expand across the UK by the end of 2018.

Ola said it would be the only ride-hailing app in south Wales to offer customers the option of private hire vehicles and black taxis on one platform.

Ben Legg, managing director of Ola UK, said: “This is an exciting moment for everyone at Ola and we are very pleased that south Wales is where we will be starting our UK journey.

“Over recent weeks, Ola has received positive feedback from drivers in south Wales and looks forward to providing passengers with a dynamic, new responsible service.”

This move is the first serious challenge in the UK to market-leading taxi-hailing app Uber, which was founded two years earlier than Ola, has three million drivers and operates in 600 cities in 65 countries.

Ola only operates in two countries – the UK will be its third – after starting its first operations in Australia earlier this year.