Turn Idle Time Into Income with Long Rentals

What if your riders didn’t have to rent by the minute or hour? What if they could reserve a vehicle for a day, a week, or even a month? At OTORide, we’ve made that possible with our Long Rental feature designed to increase revenue, reduce idle time, and open up new customer segments for operators.

What is the Long Rental Feature?

OTORide’s Long Rental feature allows riders to reserve and use vehicles for extended periods, ranging from a few hours to several weeks. Instead of the traditional pay-as-you-go model, riders can choose daily, weekly, or monthly packages directly in the Rider App. Once reserved, the vehicle remains assigned to the rider until the plan expires.

Why We Built It?

We introduced this feature initially for our North American clients who experience off-season slowdowns during winter months. By allowing users to rent vehicles for days or weeks at a time, operators could maintain revenue flow even when daily ridership dropped.

Additionally, Long Rental was designed to help new operators who haven’t yet secured government approval for on-demand, street-based operations. In many regions, long rental as a delivery or pickup model doesn’t require a municipal permit vehicles are delivered to or picked up by the rider from designated locations. This allowed those operators to launch immediately, generate cash flow, and build traction while waiting for full regulatory clearance.

We also developed this feature for store-based operators focused exclusively on long-term rentals. Whether running from a retail storefront or servicing hotels and resorts, these operators needed a robust system to manage multi-day bookings with all the tracking, support, and control OTORide provides.

This feature also serves delivery-focused businesses whose model is renting e-bikes or scooters to gig workers using platforms like DoorDash in the U.S. or Bolt in Europe. These businesses can easily manage weekly or monthly rentals to delivery riders, track fleet usage, and optimize resource distribution—all from the OTORide platform.

How It Works?

Riders select their rental duration and pay upfront for the chosen period. During the rental, the vehicle is locked to their account, and no other user can access it. They can pause, resume, and use the vehicle as needed without ending the trip. Unless the rider chooses to extend their rental, which can be done directly in the app before the expiry.

Operators can configure:

• Available rental durations and pricing
• Vehicle types eligible for long rental
• Automated notifications for plan expiry and extension options
• Optional add-ons like extra batteries or chargers, with custom pricing per item
• Automated penalties for late returns, with full control over timing and fees

All usage data, payment history, and trip logs remain fully integrated into the OTORide backend and analytics.

Why It’s a Game-Changer?

Long Rental not only increases vehicle utilization but also simplifies operations for high-demand zones and frequent users. Instead of managing multiple short trips, operators benefit from:

• Predictable revenue
• Higher retention and satisfaction
• Better planning of fleet distribution

And with OTORide’s deep customization capabilities, the Long Rental feature is not just flexible—it’s advanced. You can tailor pricing tiers, manage rentals through your store or remotely, and even sync with third-party systems for payments. Whether you’re running a seasonal fleet, a gig-rider rental service. OTORide molds this feature to match your exact business model and goals.

Want to activate Long Rental for your fleet? Our team can have it up and running within days—fully branded, fully integrated, and ready to scale.