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Transport Ministry bans ride-hailing apps
Offline: A potential client looks at the hugely popular motorcycle taxi-hailing application Go-Jek, which provided various services such as transportation, food delivery and couriering until banned by the government
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span class="caption">Offline: A potential client looks at the hugely popular motorcycle taxi-hailing application Go-Jek, which provided various services such as transportation, food delivery and couriering until banned by the government. (Kompas.com/Oik Yusuf)
The Transportation Ministry has banned the operation of the country's rapidly proliferating ride-hailing applications as it claims they do not fulfill the requirements for being public transportation, an official said.
The general director of land transportation, Djoko Sasono, said on Thursday evening that the ministry had issued a prohibition letter signed by Transportation Ministry Ignatitus Jonan on Nov. 9.
"Following the rise in the number of motor vehicles that are not official public transportation and carry people and goods based on internet applications, we took actions to prohibit them," he said at a press conference on Thursday evening as reported by kompas.com.
"Whatever the name, the operations similar to Go-Jek, Go-Box, GrabBike, GrabCar, Blue Jek, Lady Jek are all prohibited."
He said that that the operation of application-based transportation did not meet the requirements of a 2009 law on traffic and public transportation and a 2014 government regulation on public transportation.
The Ministry also sent the prohibition letter to the National Police and all local administrations and local police across the country.
"The requirements of public transportation are [that the vehicles] have at least three wheels, have legal standing and possess a public transportation business permit," he said.
Djoko said he did not mind start-up businesses. Still, he stressed that it would be a problem if private vehicles were used as unlicensed public transportation.
Home-grown Gojek launched its application in Android and iOS in January and has been downloaded at least 5 million times as of Thursday. It competed directly with Malaysia-based GrabBike, which also provided service with automobiles as GrabCar.
US-based Uber also found popularity among the Jakartans in the past year as its costs are cheaper than regular taxis.
Online-based transportation has been serving people in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bali and other big cities with more than 20,000 drivers. (anh/rin)(+)
