E-scooter rental services have been blowing up in cities around the world and now they’ve finally arrived in Indonesia with the launch of the country’s first sharing service for e-scooters (of the kick scooter variety, not to be confused with e-bikes).
Singapore-based Grab this morning launched the service, dubbed GrabWheels, in BSD City, Tangerang. The service is a joint project with BSD City property developer, Sinarmas Land, so currently GrabWheels is only available in Green Office Park, an office and commercial complex in BSD City.
“We hope that GrabWheels can be a green, innovative and easy-to-use mobility solution for people especially to those who live in smart city areas such as BSD City,” Grab Indonesia Executive Director Ongki Kurniawan said at the service’s launch.
The way it works is simple: You can download the GrabWheels app (available on iOS and Android), which you can use to locate e-scooter parking stations. Once you locate an available e-scooter, you can power it up by using the app to scan a QR code on the vehicle.
The service is still in its pilot phase until mid-2019, during which time rides on the e-scooters are free. Regular prices for GrabWheels have not yet been announced.
Grab says it’s open to expanding the service elsewhere in the Greater Jakarta Area in the future.
Though GrabWheels is the first e-scooter sharing service in Indonesia, it’s not the first shareable small electronic vehicle. Late last year, transportation startup Migo launched its e-bike service in Jakarta to quite some fanfare, only to face issues regarding whether or not their vehicles should be categorized in the same class as motorized vehicles and therefore be subject to the same road laws and regulations.
Despite the Jakarta Metro Police banning Migo from the capital’s roads in February, the service is still available, although users are generally limited to driving the e-bikes on small roads and bike lanes.
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