Citizens of West Java province, for the time being, can’t legally rely on ride-hailing apps after the provincial government announced a temporary suspension on the likes of Uber, Grab, and Go-Jek.
An alliance of conventional public transportation drivers and stakeholders called Wadah Aliansi Aspirasi Transportasi (WAAT) initially planned to hold a massive strike across the West Java capital city of Bandung from October 10-13 protesting the presence of ride-hailing services, locally known as “online taxis”, in their region.
The threat of a strike led the West Java provincial government to enforce a temporary suspension on ride-hailing apps until the central government comes up with new regulations on their operation in Indonesia. The news of the suspension was shared by Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil on his Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaBNVKPjMtf/
The post specifies that the West Java provincial government supports WAAT’s aspirations and therefore enacted the temporary suspension. Punishment for violators have not yet been specified, but the provincial government is instructing the local police to uphold the suspension while ensuring “peace and conduciveness” on the roads.
In August, Indonesia’s Supreme Court lifted the Transportation Ministry’s regulatory constraints on ride-hailing apps nationwide, saying that the existence of their services are a natural consequence of technological advancement and demand for cheap and efficient public transportation options. The ministry was given three months to lift the regulations or revise it, which they are expected to do in the near future.
West Java is so far the only province to suspend ride-hailing services while national regulations are still up in the air. This is not the first time they have caved in to the demands of conventional public transportation drivers and stakeholders either, as they temporarily made online taxis illegal earlier in the year after a major strike marred by incidents of violence.
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