Uber, YourRide, and Ola are the three ride-sharing apps servicing New Zealand.

Update April 2024: Ola no longer exists in New Zealand as of April 2024. You can read more here.

But which one is the best?

Well, that’s debatable depending on your criteria.

My main incentive is to discover the cheapest ride-sharing service in New Zealand. But I venture into pricing structures, service areas, and driver commissions. And yes, there are promo codes.

Note: For those familiar with Zoomy, they shutdown in September 2023 and have been replaced by the YourRide app.

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1. Quick Details
2. Discount Codes
3. Rates Cards
4. Price Comparisons

TLDR: Uber nudges out Ola price wish, with YourRide in general a noticeable amount more on each of the searches I completed.Both Ola, and Uber have drivers in more cities which you’ll see below, so you should download Uber too.

1. QUICK DETAILS OF EACH APP

UBER

  • Download on Android and Apple
  • Service Areas: Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier-Hastings, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Queenstown, Tauranga, and Wellington

    YOURRIDE

  • Download on Android and Apple
  • Service Areas: Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Hawkes Bay, Nelson, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Wellington, and Whangarei.

    OLA

  • Download on Android on Apple
  • Service Areas: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga, Queenstown, Dunedin, Napier-Hasting, Palmerston North, Nelson and New Plymouth.
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    WHAT THE DRIVERS TAKE HOME


    The core payment for drivers is a commission of the fees they’re charging for. The companies each have other perks, but we’ll exclude that for this as it’s hard to measure.

    Ola: Driver’s collect 80-82% of the fare depending on the city they’re driving (source).
    YourRide: I couldn’t find details.
    Uber: Driver’s collect 72% of the fare (source)

    2. RIDE-SHARING PROMO CODES

    light trail on highway from a timelapse in auckland

    At the time of writing, only Ola currently offers a referral program (I might miss if this expires, but it’s active at September 2023).

    OLA PROMO CODE

    Code: BKFYYPU
    You get: $10 off your first ride (you can use this link). You must take your first ride within 10 days of signing up.
    I get: Some Ola credit

    3. RIDE-SHARING RATE CARDS

    person typing on a ride sharing app

    The fare structure for each ride-sharing service varies from city to city.

    Ola’s Rate card can be read here.

    To find what Uber and YourRide charge for a ride, you need to click on the estimated price in the app after choosing your route.

    For simplicity, I’ll look at the rate cards based on the ride I use in the price comparison for Auckland later in the article. When you go into each app, the terminology they use varies a little bit. I’ve adjusted them where appropriate so they’re consistent across the board for this exercise.

    UBER

    uber app logo
    Base fare: $2.35
    Booking Fee: $0.85
    Cost per KM: $1.40
    Cost per minute: $0.31
    Minimum Fare: $8.80

    YOURRIDE

    yourride driver
    Base Fare: $3.15
    Booking Fee: $1.00
    Cost per KM: $2.32
    Cost per minute: $0.39
    Waiting fee/min: $0.60 (if the ride has been waiting more than 2 minutes).

    OLA

    ola app icon
    Base fare: $1.43
    Booking Fee: $0.85
    Cost per km: $1.49
    Cost per min: $0.33
    Minimum Fare: $6.44
    Waiting fee/min: $0.33

    Note: I couldn’t find a true source, but it looks like Uber also has a $0.60/min waiting fee like the others.

    4. COMPARING THE PRICE OF EACH APP

    I’ve made this simple and am going to do a search of each app for the ride from Auckland Airport to the City Centre.

    YOURRIDE: $75 – $87.
    UBER: $60 – $70.
    OLA: $63 – $75.

    WHAT IS THE CHEAPEST RIDE SHARING APP IN NZ?

    This is a small sample size, but Uber was a little cheaper than Ola which was significantly cheaper than YouRide. But there’s more to choosing a ride-share than price. You might:

    • prefer the UI/UX of one over the other
    • want to use the above promo codes for each app
    • you might want to support YourRide, the locally owned business
    • use whatever option can pick you up fastest

    I wrote this post for my own interest really. I’d heard that YourRide was locally owned, and it appears to be. That’s a big incentive for me, not only as a Kiwi but as someone who wants to support local businesses when travelling.

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