Ride sharing fares to increase starting April 1 as gov’t enforces regulations to level playing field with regular taxis

Soon, your Uber/Grab/Go-Car ride may cost around the same as it would with a regular taxi.

The Transportation Ministry announced that they are fully enforcing the latest revision of Ministerial Regulation no. 32/2016 concerning app-based transportation in April, which, among other points, sets maximum and minimum limits for ride sharing fares.

“This is so that there won’t be further issues [between conventional taxis and ride sharing services] and so that conventional taxis won’t go bankrupt,” said Pudji Hartanto, director general of Land Transportation at the Transportation Ministry, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.

Ministerial Regulation no. 32/2016 was introduced in October 2016 following a series of strikes and protests by taxi drivers around the nation (one of which, in Jakarta, got particularly violent). Taxi drivers and companies then demanded that the government regulate ride sharing fares – which were generally lower than those of conventional taxis – in order to eliminate any unfair competitive advantage they had.

The ministry has not yet announced the limits they would set for ride sharing fares, but it is believed that they would soon be similar to those of regular taxis.

The regulation also mandated that ride sharing vehicles must meet certain specification standards and pass the government’s road-worthiness test. The ministry will issue a special sticker for ride sharing vehicles that adhere to the regulation.

The ministry’s enforcement of the regulation first came with a six-month socializing period starting in October 2016, during which time violators were only given warnings. The socializing period ends at the end of this month, after which all violators may face sanctions.

Though the full enforcement of the regulation has long been scheduled for April, it’s likely to be another major hit for ride sharing companies in Indonesia. Recently, the city of Yogyakarta and the province of West Java announced they would ban ride sharing services following violent protests by traditional public transportation drivers.