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axi companies and the Organization of Land Transportation Owners'€™ (Organda) Bandung chapter have called on the Bandung Police to curb the Uber service, an Internet-based ride-sharing application.

Organda and the taxi firms claim that the vehicle-reservation service, which is based in San Fransisco, US, violates business licensing laws and applies far cheaper fares than regular taxi services in Bandung.

'€œI'€™ve warned taxi drivers to restrain themselves. Bandung is home to around 2,000 taxi cabs, which have been impacted by the Uber taxi operation,'€ said Organda'€™s Bandung head Neneng Djunaidah in the West Java capital on Tuesday.

According to Neneng, the Uber service violates taxi service licensing, which requires business and operational permits, roadworthiness tests, implementation of fares in accordance with municipal regulations and use of crowns, logos and yellow license plates.

'€œIt'€™s unclear whether the Uber taxi operation is operated by a cooperative or a company. It also does not comply with government-set fares and is not registered as a taxpayer. This clearly harms legitimate taxi companies. Moreover, it is dominated by a foreign party,'€ said Neneng.

Uber launched its services in Bandung on May 29. Based on information on its website uber.com, the service in Bandung offers passengers a base fare of Rp 3,000 (about 23 US cents) and an additional Rp 2,500 per kilometer and Rp 400 per minute waiting time.

The official rate for Bandung is Rp 7,500 or Rp 8,500 for the base fare and Rp 4,400 per kilometer.

Blue Bird Taxi management representative Gatot Indra, meanwhile, said he had used the service to gauge its modus operandi and its differences from regular taxi services.

'€œTo access, a customer has to open an account with a credit card. You can check the location of a taxi. The system is quite good,'€ said Gatot.

Gatot said he had booked a Uber ride from Jl. Jenderal Sudirman to Husein Sastranegara Airport. '€œThe fare was just Rp 17,000, far below that of other taxi fleets that apply fares in line with the mayor'€™s decree,'€ added Gatot. Meanwhile, the Bandung City Traffic Police deputy chief Comr. Adjie Kartasasmita said the police would follow up the complaints lodged by taxi firms and Organda.

'€œThey are claiming it'€™s an illegal service using IT networks. [Uber] certainly doesn'€™t pay taxes. We must look into the matter to ascertain any irregularities,'€ said Adjie, adding that he was still unsure how to categorize the service.

Police, added Adjie, had as yet received no reports of any crimes committed by the Uber service.

Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil called for clarity on the issue. As quoted by Kompas.com, Ridwan said he would invite transportation experts, Organda, taxi companies and the public to hold a dialog on Uber.

'€œWe want to talk over the issue first, then we'€™ll see the outcome,'€ Ridwan said last week.

In Jakarta, the Uber service is facing similar a protest from Organda. Jakarta police recently arrested five Uber drivers based on reports from the organization.

The service has proved popular with consumers, however, and observers have praised the Internet-based service for opening up competition and breaking the monopoly held by Organda and taxi companies.