Chinese juggernaut DiDi launches in Perth on Monday and has Uber and Ola running scared, with discounting ramping up and drivers multi-moonlighting, spruiking the new app to passengers even as they work the other two.

Frequent rideshare app users like me will have observed Ola’s extensive heavy discounting since it launched its Australia-New Zealand service in Perth a year ago, as it tries to win market share off Uber. The discounting in the initial weeks of an Ola membership delivers big savings for riders.

Perth's rideshare market is heating up. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Even when this expires, an almost continuous drip-feed of smaller discounts continues to ensure loyalty, making Ola generally the cheapest option, though the app is less sophisticated than Uber’s and Uber has more cars available in antisocial hours (such as 5.45am on a Saturday).

Ola has ramped up in recent weeks in preparation for DiDi’s launch, offering chances to “unlock” discount codes of 25 and even 50 per cent if you take enough in a specified timeframe, music to the ears of regular riders who’d be taking trips anyway.