Rideshare company Ola is hitting the brakes in New Zealand. 

The Uber rival told Auckland customers they won't be able to book future rides from Friday but can still access their app until it shuts down next month. 

But First Union is worried the loss will give Ola's main rival Uber more control of the gig economy. 

Strategic project coordinator Anita Rosentreter told Mike Hosking that Ola played a key crossover role for those drivers. 

She says drivers would go to Ola when they couldn't get work at Uber and it also created competition between the platforms to offer them incentives. 

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