A week since the Transportation Ministry issued a new set of regulations for app-based motorcycle taxis (known in Indonesia as ojek online or ojol for short), the government today set new price floors and ceilings on the tariff for ojol rides, which may appease drivers but make ojol rides a little bit more expensive for customers.
The Transportation Ministry announced that the new tariffs, which is set to come into effect on May 1, are divided into three zones, namely Zone I (Sumatra, Bali, and Java excluding Jabodetabek), Zone II (Jabodetabek) and Zone III (Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua). The new tariff floors and ceilings per kilometer for each zone are as follows:
Zone I: IDR1,850-2,300
Zone II: IDR2,000-2,500
Zone III: IDR2,100-2,600
The ministry is also imposing a minimum fare of IDR8,000-10,000 for the first 4 km traveled, while adjusted fares from promos or surge pricing must still fall within the new tariffs.
“We will evaluate these policies once every three months,” the ministry’s Land Transportation Director General Budi Setyadi told reporters in Jakarta today, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
Ojol drivers have been demanding higher tariffs for months, arguing that they struggle to make a living from the profession on the current tariffs set by ojol service providers, namely local tech unicorn Go-Jek and Singapore’s Grab, which stand at around IDR1,200-1,500 per kilometer.
Major ojol organizations like the Association for Two-Wheel Action (Garda) have said that they would be pleased with a tariff of around IDR2,400. However, it remains to be seen if the price floors on the new tariffs would be considered too low by Garda and other ojol organizations, who have previously promised large scale strikes and protests if their demands are ignored.
US$1=IDR14,188
