Blue Bird introduced its new logo recently — a bird shielded in blue that looked more dynamic, combined with modern typography.

“The new logo represents the company’s spirit to be more adaptive to change,” Amelia Nasution, Blue Bird marketing director, told reporters during a breaking-of-the-fast event at the company’s headquarters in South Jakarta recently.

Furthermore, Blue Bird also announced a new feature in its in-house mobile app, My Blue Bird, which enables customers to order its charter bus Big Bird to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, from several pick-up locations.

Users can order a Big Bird airport shuttle service from 12 locations: Slipi in West Jakarta; Gambir, Thamrin, Harmoni and Senen in Central Jakarta; Sudirman, Blok M and Kalibata in South Jakarta; Cililitan, Jatinegara and Rawamangun in East Jakarta; and West Bekasi.

In order to make its services more accessible to customers, Blue Bird has also worked on providing a wider range of payment methods. For example, customers can now use T-Cash, an e-money service managed by Telkomsel, as a method of payment if they order services through its app.

“We have collaborated with T-Cash, providing a new method of payment in the My Blue Bird app,” Michael Tene, Blue Bird head of investor relations, told The Jakarta Post separately in a text message.

To support the digital transformation, Blue Bird has pushed cross-platform collaboration. Some partnerships have been implemented with banks such as HSBC and CIMB Niaga to provide discounts and other promotions for customers.

“We have also partnered with Traveloka in terms of ordering access for the airport shuttle bus, as well as Golden Bird rental cars to and from the airport,” he added.

Blue Bird, however, refused to reveal how much capital expenditures it had allocated for its digital transformation this year.

The company’s aggressive move to push digital transformation came from pressure created by app-based ride hailing services, which have put some conventional taxi operators out of business, while others have been forced to cut costs to ensure efficiency.

Intense competition made Blue Bird partner with homegrown ride-hailing app Go-Jek in 2017 in an apparent move to survive. Competition with ride-hailing apps likely damaged Blue Bird’s financial performance.

In the first three months of this year, Blue Bird’s revenue dropped by 6.4 percent to Rp 973.37 billion, year-on-year (yoy). Along with the decline in top line, the taxi operator’s net profit also plunged by 15.79 percent to Rp 98.92 billion from the January-March period this year, yoy.

Despite the challenges, Blue Bird was confident that its strong brand recognition and good customer service would encourage people to continue using its services.

“We believe that the nature of transportation will not change. We still have to move people from one place to another. We are trying our best to create a better journey for customers,” Amelia said.

Toward the end of year, in order to increase income, Blue Bird is set to participate in three major upcoming events — the 2018 Asian Games, the Asian Para Games and the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting in Bali.

It will provide a total of 2,067 vehicles, including buses, taxis and other types of vehicles, to cover transportation needs and access during the scheduled events.

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