Ola Restrooms not a Prank After all

Ola now took the project a step ahead to make it a crowdfunding campaign in Association with Gramalaya.

By Gayatri SA

Bangalore, April 12, 2019: After the subtle prank that the Ola Cabs company made regarding their project of Ola restrooms in cities as an April Fool’s Day prank, Ola drivers and customers alike were really hoping for it to be true.

Due to vehicle congestion and endless tough trip targets, the drivers are exhausted after being employed with the app-based aggregator. To add to their hard day, restrooms are not provided anywhere for them to use.

There are 1,70,000axis in Bangalore the city which includeOla and others and their drivers are mostly on roads all day long, working at least 14 hours a day. Going to a washroom is a big task, as there are not even sufficient public restrooms in the city.

These public toilets are often extremely dirty and always crowded.

Satish, an Ola driver, says “ I have been with Ola for the last three years and accessing washrooms is a  big problem. I wish the April 1st prank was true because sometimes I have to stop and cannot focus on driving. We also don’t want to pee in the public spaces as they are unhygienic”.

According to the Ola Blog, Gramalaya recently started an app to facilitate voluntary contributions,  and the donations will be used to educate, spread awareness and other purposesrelated to sanitation promotion activities for certain identified locations and populations.

The only possible way to contribute to the fund will be  in the form of payment chosen by the riders  through wallet or card. The contribution will be represented in the  final invoice as a “Donation.” Each Contribution shall be of a minimum of Rs 1.

Anand S., Senior Director at Gramalaya said “Ola is planning to start the restrooms and the app and crowdfunding is true, which was thought to be a prank. Through this campaign, we aim to heighten the awareness and support Ola to turn the Ola restrooms prank into a reality.”

Jimmy K, an Ola employee, said ” We have been tracking the donations and we collaborated with Gramalaya, an organisation that is dedicated to providing better water and sanitary facilities in rural areas. There has been a lot of viewership on the advertisements and this gave us an idea to turn this true. Thus, this is not a prank.”