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n 2015, Jakarta saw rapid growth of app-based transportation, with ojek (motorcycle taxi) being the most notable one. The use of mobile phone apps to hitch a ride became a significant trend among Jakartans last year.

Ojek are a traditional form of transportation in Jakarta. Given the city'€™s infamous congestion, ojek can be found on every street corner of the capital, although their existence has no legal basis.

For years, ojek have been considered an alternative type of public transportation for people who liked to reach their destination without spending hours stuck in traffic, but now the game has completely changed.

The rising popularity of the two biggest players in the app-based ojek business, Go-Jek and GrabBike, has made the two-wheeled taxi a favorite mode of public transportation among middle-class Jakartans. Their green-black jackets and helmets can be easily spotted every day across the city.

Established in 2011, Go-Jek'€™s popularity soared in early 2015 when it launched Android and iOS apps. The company'€™s founder, Nadiem Makarim, claimed in late December there were around 200,000 drivers throughout the country.

Malaysian-based GrabTaxi kicked off its operations in Indonesia last May, after years of building a strong presence in other Southeast Asian markets. The fame of both GrabBike and Go-Jek have attracted others to jump on the ojek bandwagon.

However, the rise of app-based ojek has its own backlash.

The drivers began to face violent threats from traditional ojek drivers, who felt the newcomers were encroaching on their turf and who claimed the application of '€œextreme'€ promotional tariffs by Go-Jek and GrabBike left them unable to compete.

Taxi companies Blue Bird and Express also voiced their objection, as their drivers reported dropping income since the advent of the app-based ojek.

GrabBike offered a promotional fixed tariff of Rp 10,000 (72 US cents) and later Go-Jek offered a Rp 15,000 fare for trips up to 25 kilometers.

Adi, 35, a traditional ojek driver, said he and his friends put up '€œanti Go-Jek and GrabBike'€ posters at the Kalibata City mall in South Jakarta as they felt their job was becoming tougher with the fierce competition brought by app-based ojek. '€œThere are 40 ojek drivers registered here. This means there are 40 families to feed every day, and those apps make it harder for us,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

In addition to resistance from traditional drivers, the app-based ojek business also stands on very thin ice, as Law No. 22/2009 on traffic and land transportation does not mention ojek as a form of public transportation.

Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan circulated a letter to the traffic police to enforce the law on app-based ojek. However, when the circular created public uproar '€” and after President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo expressed his concern, the minister canceled his recommendation.

'€œOjek are needed by society. We should not issue regulations that make life difficult for people, it must be managed,'€ Jokowi said on his Twitter account.

The government'€™s ambiguous standpoint on the app-based ojek and the dramatic public uproar show that, while ojek drivers actually violate the law and are not exactly a solution to the city'€™s woeful traffic conditions, they have been providing some comfort to urbanites.