Yesterday, the Jakarta Police had a meeting to discuss the legality of uber-popular motorcycle taxi hailing service Go-Jek.
Despite the fact that ojeks have been a part of the Jakarta transport landscape seemingly forever, authorities are now raising the issue that motorcycle taxis (and companies based on using them) are not technically legal since motorcycles are not on the government’s list of acceptable forms of public transportation, as specified in Act No. 22 of 2009 on Road Traffic and Road Transport.
Jakarta Police Chief Tito Karnavian seems quite torn on the subject as he discussed the various ramifications of the police choosing to allow or prohibit Go-Jek.
On the one hand, Tito said that prohibiting Go-Jek could be detrimental to the community that has already grown dependent on it.
“Consumers want better service, to pay less, and feel more secure. They see the Go-Jek phenomenon as beneficial for community, as well as for motorcyclists,” Tito said yesterday, as quoted by Detik.
Tito said another option would be to simply leave Go-Jek alone. However, he said this would mean there would be no legal certainty for motorcycle taxi passenger and their safety would not be guaranteed.
But then he noted: “That might be answered by [Go-Jek Founder] Nadiem Makarim by saying, ‘Pak, what about the buses that often catch on fire, there are many victims. There has only ever been one person who has died riding a Go-Jek, but burning buses, like what happened before in Pantura, can hurt many victims.’ You also cannot guarantee that two wheel vehicles will be safe.”
“So, when it comes to whether ojek applications are right or wrong, it is not easy for the police,” Tito said, as quoted by Merdeka.
So rather than deciding, it looks like the police will instead pass the decision off to the people by asking the Jakarta City Council to conduct a public survey about people’s opinion of Go-Jek.
“If people are all against it, then yes there is no problem. We would not hesitate [to make it illegal]. So we think we should ask the City Council and the government making a survey first. So there is a sense of unanimity in society about how we should handle Go-Jek,” Tito said.
We think a survey is a waste of time – we’re pretty sure everybody except for other ojeks and taxi operators would say having Go-Jek and similar services in Jakarta is a very good thing.
