TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Online taxi apps 80 percent ready for legal operation: Ministry official
Change Size
Several taxi drivers carry out raids on taxis carrying passengers on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Jakarta on March 22. Thousands of taxis from various companies staged a rally to call for the shutting down of application-based transportation services that they deemed illegal. (thejakartapost.com/Wienda Parwitasari)
R
ide-hailing mobile application firms have stated that they are 80 percent ready to operate legally, ahead of the May 31 deadline set by the government.
“The head of the Jakarta City Transportation Agency has reported that online taxis are 80 percent ready,” the Transportation Ministry’s director general for land transportation Pudji Hartanto Iskandar said in Jakarta on Friday.
Ministerial Decree No.32/2016 on the operation of taxis rules that a ride app firms can partner with registered transportation companies to provide a transportation service. App-based taxi providers such as Grab and Uber are required to form a legal entity within Indonesia, as well as facilitate their transportation business partners' permits for providing a taxi service.
The transportation partners also need to form a local legal entity and have an official repair workshop and a minimum fleet of five cars that regularly undergo roadworthy tests.
However, Pudji said not all transportation partners of Grab and Uber had formed a legal entity, registered with the government.
Also, he added, the city transportation agency currently lacks the human resources to assist all online taxis to arrange vehicle roadworthy (KIR) certificates.
“We will collaborate with the brand-holder sole distributors [ATPM] to arrange the KIR certificates,” Pudji said.
Thousands of conventional taxi drivers from the country’s biggest taxi operator Blue Bird rallied on the streets of Jakarta in March against the growing popularity of application-based transportation services, which they claimed were illegal entities. Fights broke out between striking Blue Bird drivers and those who kept working.
However, Blue Bird decided to team up with homegrown motorcycle ride-hailing application Gojek last week in an attempt to bolster its services and business. Both companies plan to form a partnership based on technology, payment systems and promotions. (vps/bbn)
