A taxi driver has been arrested for having unashamedly demanded IDR150K (US$10) from tourists who had booked a ride using a rideshare app. He has since apologized for his behavior, citing financial difficulties.
If we can all be honest, though, this only represents a drop in a vast problem that has been largely ignored for years.
Kadek Eka Putra, 40, said in a public statement after being questioned by Badung Police investigators that he demanded money from 27-year-old Singaporean Calysta T Ng in Canggu on Tuesday because he was desperate.
“It was a back-to-the-wall [situation]. No [customers] at all,” Kadek said as quoted by Kumparan.
Reports say that Calysta first sought a ride with Kadek, but he asked for IDR270K (US$18) to take her and her friends from a hotel in Padang Linjong to the I Gusti Ngurah Rai International. Fares for that same trip on rideshare apps, as Coconuts Bali verified today, only go up to IDR140K (US$9.37).
Calysta then decided to book a ride using an app. Kadek admitted that his fare was above the standard rate, and he insisted that his price was still negotiable.
Seeing his potential customers slip away from his grasp as they hop on an app-based taxi, Kadek went on to accost them on the grounds that app-based taxis were not permitted to pick up passengers in the area. He threatened to take them to Canggu traditional village (banjar) if they did not give him money.
Kadek did eventually receive IDR100K (US$6.69) from Calysta – and a viral clip as a bonus.
Though netizens rightly lambasted Kadek’s behavior online, it should be noted that this kind of entitlement by conventional taxi drivers is nothing new in Bali.
Swept under the rug
On Jan. 18, we reported about a viral clip depicting a traditional motorcycle taxi (ojek pangkalan) driver physically preventing a foreigner from hopping on an app-based ojek.
A week later, an ojek pangkalan driver in Pecatu reportedly punched an app-based driver over a passenger. The latter suffered injuries to his ear.
Nina (not her real name), a Tangerang-based driver and guide who has been working in Bali for almost 20 years, said that she has been familiar with the hostility from the traditional drivers in the past eight years.
“One time in 2017, five guys approached my car and caused damage because they said I should not operate in their area,” she told Coconuts Bali under the condition of anonymity.
Nina hopes that Kadek’s viral clip would serve as a catalyst for the introduction of clear regulations regarding taxis in Bali, as the island’s administration has been sweeping the issue under the rug all this time.
Bali Governor Wayan Koster told DetikBali yesterday that while there are no gubernatorial regulations on local taxis, he had asked the Transportation Agency to come up with some.
It’s precisely this kind of evasive attitude that enables conventional taxi drivers to continue being hostile towards rideshare drivers.
Sure, we have seen conventional taxi drivers elsewhere, like in Jakarta, be similarly hostile as rideshare apps were just taking off circa 2016. But the hatred has practically dissipated in the capital, and in many other parts of Indonesia, by now after the Ministry of Transportation passed regulations giving legal validation to rideshare drivers.
So why hasn’t Bali moved on with the times like the others?
According to Bali Transportation Agency Head, IGW Samsi Gunarta, app-based transportation services are legally permitted to pick up customers from anywhere on the island, including tourist hotspots.
However, banjar officials, who hold a massive sway in the day-to-day running of Bali’s traditional villages and neighborhoods, have the power to pass local regulations regarding public transportation in their jurisdiction.
And that includes whether or not rideshare drivers are welcome.
The ongoing hostility between conventional taxis and app-based counterparts in Bali necessitates a proactive and collaborative approach from the provincial government. To address this effectively, it is crucial for Bali to establish clear and enforceable regulations, collaborate with stakeholders, and promote public awareness and education.
Until the provincial government dares to take charge, nothing’s going to change, regardless of how many future incidents go viral.
