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Transportation innovation outpaces regulation
A lawmaker with Commission V of the House of Representatives overseeing transportation, Yudi Widiana, said that he has agrees that innovations in the transportation system are developing faster than regulations, and emphasized that the House was ready to keep up the pace
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lawmaker with Commission V of the House of Representatives overseeing transportation, Yudi Widiana, said that he has agrees that innovations in the transportation system are developing faster than regulations, and emphasized that the House was ready to keep up the pace.
Yudi, deputy head of the commission, said in a recent discussion on the growth of mobility-assisting smart-phone apps that the planned Transportation System Bill would regulate ojek (motorcycle taxi) operations as well as the rise of app-based transportation.
According to Yudi, all ojek drivers violated regulations because they were not designated as public transportation. 'However, no one could deny that the existence of ojeks is a tremendous help to almost everyone in the country,' he said.
Law No. 22/2009 on traffic and land transportation does not mention ojek as a form of public transportation. However, it has become a popular solution to getting around amid the worsening traffic situation in Jakarta.
Furthermore, Yudi said that innovations in transportation like Go-Jek, GrabTaxi and Uber existed because the government had failed to provide convenient, fast and cheap public transportation. 'Therefore the private companies stepped in,' Yudi said during a discussion in Kemanggisan, West Jakarta.
He also praised app-based transportation and called it an answer for people, especially in Jakarta, to avoid traffic jams.
However, the Uber ride-sharing services did not receive as warm a welcome as other app-based transportation innovations. Yudi said that despite providing a great service for the public, Uber should be able to make a clearer definition of their business core.
'Uber says it is an IT company, but why does it pick up passengers and charge them just like a transportation company?' he asked.
Jakarta Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) chairman Shafruhan Sinungan also reminded Uber to abide within transportation regulations if it wanted to pick up passengers and set a tariff for the service.
However, the accusations leveled at Uber were strongly denied by the company's international expansion officer Joshua Ho, who emphasized that Uber was not a taxi company and did not own any vehicles nor hire any drivers.
Joshua added that before launching its business in Indonesia, Uber had made sure with its legal team that the company 'did not violate any regulation in the country and would pay the taxes'. He said further that Uber was currently preparing to create a legal entity in Indonesia to run its business.
Recently the Jakarta Police seized five Uber cars and held the drivers for questioning following a report filed by Jakarta's Organda on Feb. 24 against the company.
According to a copy of the police report obtained by The Jakarta Post, Organda reported the Silicon-Valley-based company for fraud, information and electronic transaction crimes and money laundering.
During Wednesday's discussion, Joshua said that he hoped that Uber in Indonesia would achieve similar successes as the company had achieved in the Philippines, where Uber has been declared legal to operate anywhere in the country.
