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'Ojol' drivers self-organize to help each other on streets
With most of their time spent on the road, many drivers from both homegrown firm Gojek and Malaysia-based ride-hailing service Grab have forged a bond in the form of organized communities with the main purpose of looking out for each other.
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Traffic is held up as app-based "ojek" (motorcycle taxi) drivers wait to pick up passengers at Palmerah Station in Jakarta in this file photo. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan )
For many app-based ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers, the phrase “strength in numbers” may echo deep in their daily lives.
With most of their time spent on the road, many drivers from both homegrown firm Gojek and Malaysia-based ride-hailing service Grab have forged a bond in the form of organized communities with the main purpose of looking out for each other.
According to ojol (online ojek) driver Wahyudi, there are around 300 ojol communities around Greater Jakarta whose members comprise drivers from both companies.
“Everyone says it is good to be a member of the communities as not only do we make new friends, we also get information on traffic. We help each other in any situation; it feels like a family to me,” he said on Thursday.
The self-organized groups were mentioned in the recent findings of a study carried out on ride-hailing communities by a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) doctorate candidate in urban geography, Sam Nowak. In his research conducted in March to June in Jakarta and satellite city Tangerang, Banten, he discovered that these ojol communities could be divided into three categories: komunitas (community), wadah (umbrella organization) and lintas (cross regions).
Komunitas consists of drivers that either live or operate in a certain geographic area. The community has a basecamp usually in the form of a stall or in a specific neighborhood.
Some basecamps are equipped with televisions, electrical sockets and even restrooms. For basecamps located inside a neighborhood, the community unit (RW) head usually builds the camp in exchange for drivers volunteering as security guards in the area.
