Cancellation Policy

Ola Drivers are expected to represent Ola ANZ and themselves in a responsible, ethical and reasonable manner when providing riders with safe and efficient ride services.

To ensure a strong driver performance rating and to avoid warnings or temporary off-roading from the Ola ANZ platform, it is critical for Drivers to understand their obligations as listed below:

  • Drivers must not ask the rider to cancel the trip request.
  • Drivers must not ask the rider’s drop location and once known, attempt to convince the rider in any manner, to cancel the trip request.
  • Drivers should ensure their driver account does not have a high rate of cancellation activity.
  • All Ola Drivers are obligated by anti-discrimination laws in both Australia and New Zealand, to permit service animals in their vehicles.
  • Each jurisdiction has anti-discrimination laws, preventing a Driver from discriminating against a Rider with accompanying service animals, from cancelling trips as a result.
  • Within Australia, Ola Drivers must not refuse to carry an assistance animal in the vehicle: please see Disability Discrimination Act 1992
  • Assistance animals are defined under section 9(2) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992
  • To determine whether the animal accompanying the rider is an ‘assistance animal’, the Driver may politely request the rider to produce an ‘Assistance Animal Permit’ or appropriate accreditation to verify.
  • Within New Zealand, Ola Drivers must not refuse to carry an assistance dog into their vehicle: please see Dog Control Act 1996, s 75 and Human Rights Act 1993, s 21.
  • However, the Driver may politely request certification of the rider, that the dog is certified as a “Disability Assist Dog” by an approved organisation such as, the Blind Foundation, Assistance Dogs NZ or Hearing Dogs for Deaf People NZ.
  • Drivers should not decline trips due to a discriminatory reason such as a customer’s gender, religion, race or sexuality.

Understanding Cancellation fees

  1. Cancellation fee is charged to compensate drivers for the time, effort and fuel spent while trying to reach the pickup location.
  2. A rider may be charged a cancellation fee if*:
    1. The estimated time of arrival of the driver is less than 5 minutes and the rider cancels the booking 3 minutes or later after the booking has been accepted by the driver; or
    2. The estimated time of arrival of the driver is 5 minutes or more and the rider cancels the booking 5 minutes or later after the booking has been accepted by the driver; or
    3. The driver has already arrived at the pickup location; or
    4. The driver cancels the booking after waiting at the pickup location for 5 minutes or more.
  3. However, the cancellation fee will not be charged if the driver is delayed in reaching the pickup location by more than 5 minutes from the shown estimated time of arrival.
  4. If a driver starts a trip they are ineligible to receive a cancellation fee for that same trip.
  5. Cancellation fee amount may vary depending on the rider’s city and the vehicle category selected.
  6. Cancellation fees charged to Ola riders will be paid to the driver, less any commission.
  7. If a cancellation fee is applicable, the driver will be instantly notified within the app upon cancellation of the booking. Where a driver declines a ride after adhering to the above rules, Ola reserves the right to deny a cancellation fee.
  8. Any disputes may be raised via the app.

*When the booking is confirmed, the system will calculate an estimated time of arrival (ETA) for the driver to reach the pick-up location from his/her current location. The actual time of booking acceptance is added to the ETA to amount to the scheduled pick-up time. The calculation of the ETA is based on a fixed default speed in its calculation. That is, the actual time of arrival for a car can be more or less than the ETA depending on his/her driving speed.