Bangalore-headquartered ride hailing platform, Ola today announced that it has expanded its operations in Australia, with launching its services in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

The company says it has been present in Australia’s most populous cities, and has received a large number of requests from drivers and customers alike to introduce its services in other parts of the country. Sunshine Coast was chosen due to the bustling tourism industry and the need for more choice in the local rideshare market.

Simon Smith, managing director, Ola Australia and New Zealand, said: “We have seen a tremendous response to our offerings across the country as customer demand has been on an upward trend. After seeing a large number of requests to introduce our services in other parts of the country, we have chosen the Sunshine Coast as Ola’s first launch in a non-metro city in Australia. We are now present across 8 cities in Australia and are the fastest-growing major rideshare player in the country.”

As part of its launch, Ola is offering new customers discounted rides and is also inviting local drivers to join the platform. On its way to providing commuters with the best rideshare experience, Ola has enabled Queenslanders to save over $5 million (Rs 34 crore) in fares and travel more than 7.5 million kilometres across the South East. Ola states it will continue its rollout across the market and work with local authorities to offer transportation access to commuters.

Exponential growth over the past few years has seen the company enabling smart transportation to hundreds of millions of users through its network of over 1.5 million drivers across 250+ cities in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and India.