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Conventional taxis told to be more efficient to survive
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Taking a stand: Hundreds of drivers of conventional taxis stage a rally at the Gladag traffic circle in Surakarta, Central Java, in July. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
T
ransportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has called on conventional taxi operators to be more efficient to compete with ride-hailing applications that have become more popular.
“The key is efficiency,” said Budki, commenting on the layoff of 400 employees by PT Express Transindo Utama, an operator of Taksi Express, the second largest conventional taxi service in Indonesia after Blue Bird as reported by kompas.com.
Benny Setiawan, CEO of PT Express Transindo Utama or the Express Group, said the company plans to sell its assets to help raise Rp 2.5 billion (US$185,130) to pay off its debt. The company’s revenue sharply declined to Rp 158.73 billion up to June this year, compared to Rp 374.06 billion during the same period last year.
Read also: Despite protests, it's business as usual for ride-hailing app drivers in Batam
Budi admitted that the financial problems faced by Taksi Express and conventional taxi operators were partly caused by the emergence of online taxis, but he said that conventional taxi operators had to adjust by utilizing technology.
However, conventional taxi operators and drivers criticized the transportation ministry for failing to create fair competition between conventional and online taxis.
The Supreme Court revoked 14 articles of the Transportation Ministry Regulation No. 26/ 2017 on the operation of non-route public transportation because the court considered it ran contrary to Law No. 20/2008 on micro, small and medium enterprises and Law No. 22/2009 on traffic and road transportation.
Budi said the ministry was now revising the regulation, promising to accommodate the interests of all stakeholders. (bbn)
