Many conventional taxi drivers went into riot mode last month when they protested against the existence of ride-hailing companies like Uber and Grab. It looks like they may get their wish to get rid of the companies and their services after all.
Kompas Tekno recently spotted that the Transportation Ministry had “quietly” come up with a new ministerial regulation regarding road public transportation last month. Two points from the new regulation may indeed lead to the prohibition of ride-hailing apps like Uber, Grab (their GrabCar service in particular) and the newly launched Go-Car:
– Ride-hailing companies may not set their own fares
– Must own a minimum of five vehicles under a licensed company
Now as we all know, being able to set their own fares and have people with private cars become partner drivers are two essential features of ride-hailing services. If these points in the new regulation are enforced, then theoretically the current ride-hailing model will be prohibited and we’ll be left with apps that can only hail government licensed vehicles, like conventional taxis.
The new regulation is set to come into effect in September.
In March, the government said it would work together with Uber and Grab to create new regulations to legalize and regulate ride-hailing services, but that was an initiative of the IT ministry. It seems like the Transportation Ministry and the IT Ministry are having clashing views on the future of these services in Indonesia – we hope that for the sake of consumers who desperately need more transportation options, they will give ride-sharing companies an equal opportunity to compete in the marketplace.
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