Emergency Rides Services in India During Lockdown 2.0

The spread of COVID-19 can be stopped by staying at home. However, you may have to make essential trips to hospitals, pharmacies, banks, or even to the grocery stores once in a while. In that case, what would you do, especially when the public transports such as ride-hailing apps, auto-rickshaws, and cabs are not plying on roads? 

Some emergency ride services in India are working to meet your demand for emergency riding. Most of them are either app-based or can be booked by calling their helpline numbers.

Let’s have a look at the emergency riding services that are lessening your woes during the Lockdown 2.0:

1. Ola Emergency

Ola Emergency services have started (on April 20, 2020) to provide essential medical care riding services to Indian citizens in 15 major cities across India. This leading mobility platform will provide “convenient, reliable, and safe transport services for all non-COVID medical trips” including chemotherapy, dialysis, scheduled check-ups, immediate medical needs such as injuries, and others.  

Ola (one of the leading ride-hailing companies of the world) has partnered with various state governments in India to provide these emergency services. They are ensuring all safety and social distancing norms. The app-based cab-facilitating company is also ensuring that all the earmarked cabs providing emergency services are equipped with proper sanitary measures, sanitizers, masks, and others as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health. 

A total of 1,000 hospitals (out of which more than 200 hospitals are in Mumbai and 200 more in Bengaluru) have been mapped across India. 

These emergency services of OLA are available at 15 cities:

1. Amritsar (100 hospitals)

2. Bengaluru (200 hospitals)

3. Bhopal (100 hospitals)

4. Bhubaneswar (80 hospitals)

5. Gurugram (100 hospitals)

6. Indore (100 hospitals)  

7. Jalandhar (40 hospitals)

8. Ludhiana (23 hospitals)

9. Mohali (18 hospitals)

10. Mumbai ( 200 hospitals)

11. Nashik (40 hospitals) 

12. Patiala (23 hospitals)

13. Rourkela (20 hospitals)

14. Varanasi (25 hospitals)

15. Vizag (50 hospitals)

If you are living in any of these 15 cities, you can seamlessly book OLA Emergency rides by selecting the ‘Ola Emergency’ category and then selecting the drop location from the list of hospitals available. You can book emergency trips from homes to hospitals and the other way round. 

Spokesperson and Head of Communications, Anand Subramanian, has said: “With over 100+ Hospitals in the city mapped, ‘Ola Emergency’ will be available 24×7 and will provide citizens with a reliable, convenient and safe transport solution for medical trips that do not require an ambulance.”

2. Uber Essential

UBER, one of the leading ride-hailing companies of the world, is facilitating the essential travel needs of Indian citizens in 5 Indian cities. In the absence of public transportation services, UBER is providing efficient, reliable, and safe transports for you to access critical and essential places such as hospitals, pharmacies, and other essentials.       

The app-based cab aggregator UBER’s director operations and head of cities at Uber India & South Asia, Prabhjeet Singh, has said that they are leveraging their “technology and network of driver-partners to enable citizens to access essential services, while simultaneously also helping authorities contain the spread of Covid-19”. 

They are providing this essential service for facilitating urgent travel needs for essential service areas only. It is currently available in 5 cities:

1. Bengaluru

2. Gurgaon

3. Hyderabad

4. Mumbai 

5. Nashik

There are hundreds of designated hospitals and locations that you can go with the help of the emergency riding service. The designated drivers available in this Uber Essential are not only specially trained to offer the riders their coveted riding services in lockdown period but also have required curfew passes to ensure seamless movement. 

To avail the service, you have to open their app and check whether the service is available in your location. Once you find the service in your location, you can avail the vital service to reach accessible locations nearby. 

3. Everest Fleet Cabs

Everest Fleet cabs services are known for supplying around 500 cabs to Ola, the renowned cab-hailing app. However, you can also call them at +91 9833167167 and book a cab for an essential service. This service can be availed by people living in Mumbai Metropolitan Area (including Mumbai, Thane, and Navi Mumbai). 

Everest Fleet Cabs have the experience of working with doctors and medical professionals. That’s why they reportedly maintain the required hygiene standard in their cabs. To avail of their service, you have to book the service at least 12-hours before the scheduled trip. You have to provide proper ID as well as documents/letters (hospital/banking) to prove that your trip is essential. 

While a regular commuter can avail the service at Rs. 500, a public hospital staff/government official can get the service at Rs. 250. If you belong to the economically disadvantaged class (below the poverty line), you can receive the service for free. 

4. Alyte

Alyte is a Mahindra Logistics brand that provides enterprise mobility service. It has started offering free riding services to: 

• The Elderly

• Differently-abled 

• Citizens who are in need of routine medical treatment such as doctor’s appointment, vaccination, etc.)

• Citizens who need to get groceries 

• Citizens who have to go to the bank or post office

The Alyte emergency cab service is available in 6 cities (with booking phone numbers):

1. Bengaluru (+91 9113577375)
2. Chennai (+91 9500067082)
3. Hyderabad (+ 91 8433958158)
4. Kochi and Trivandrum (+91 8589053345)
5. Kolkata Metropolitan Area (Kolkata, Howrah, and Hooghly) (+91 9831580905)
6. Mumbai (+91 9867097665)
7. Delhi (+91 9773527222)

This service is not meant for patients having COVID-19 symptoms or other medical emergencies such as pregnant women in labour, fractures, or cardiac arrest. 

The drivers of this emergency cab service are checked with their fever-related health conditions before being sent on a trip. Alyte ensures that all their emergency cabs are properly sanitised. 

Conclusion

If you really need to avail emergency services either due to medical emergencies or other purposes, you can always get the services from these emergency ride services. 

With the announcement of the extended lockdown 2.0 till May 3, the home ministry has extended several relief guidelines for private vehicles. In the case of four-wheel private vehicles, one person can accommodate the driver. In the case of two-wheelers, only one person is allowed. 

Avail either emergency ride services or your private vehicles to get a medical emergency or procure essential commodities.