Heaptalk, Jakarta — Online motorcycle taxi drivers and couriers in the Greater Jakarta area staged a demonstration to present several demands to application companies and the government (08/29). The demonstration, which involved between 500 and 1,000 drivers, began at noon and followed a route that included the Merdeka Palace, the Gojek office, and the Grab office, as reported by CNN Indonesia.
Igun Wicaksono, Chairman of Garda Indonesia, stated that the drivers’ demands include reducing application fees and legalizing online motorcycle taxi work within applicable laws. Currently, companies impose application fees ranging from 20 to 30%. According to Igun, legalizing online motorcycle taxi work is intended to prevent application companies from acting arbitrarily.
Grab applies service rates following the regulation
In response to this action, Tirza Munusamy, Chief of Public Affairs at Grab Indonesia, stated that they have implemented delivery service rates following Article 3 of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics Regulation No. 1/Per/M/Kominfo/01/2012 on Commercial Postal Service Rate Formulas. She mentioned that the service rates are formulated to safeguard driver earnings and stabilize market demand for Grab’s services.
“We guarantee that Grab Indonesia never deducts driver earnings to allocate as discounts for consumers. All promotional costs Grab uses are funded by the company and designed to help increase consumer demand, which is expected to impact driver earnings positively,” Tirza told CNN Indonesia (08/28).
Gojek’s operations continues normally
Meanwhile, Rosel Lavina, Head of Corporate at Gojek Indonesia, expressed regret over the decision of online motorcycle taxi drivers to disable their apps while voicing their aspirations. She said, “We are always open to the aspirations of our active Gojek driver partners and continually encourage them to be conveyed in a conducive and orderly manner. On the other hand, we regret the attempts to create an impression that some of our services are not operational due to the planned demonstration.”
As a result, Rosel affirmed that Gojek’s operations would continue normally and consumers could use the services as usual. “We also urge driver partners not to be provoked and to continue operating as usual. Gojek will take firm action against individuals who engage in activities detrimental to our customers or partners,” she concluded.
