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OJEK - JAKARTA. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi says that the ministry plans to survey the public response to the May 1 increase of fares for online ride-hailing ojek (motorcycle taxi) services, so the government can evaluate the trial implementation.
The survey is to be conducted in Jakarta, Bandung, Makassar, Yogyakarta and Surabaya as online orders for motorcycle taxis reportedly declined after the new fares were imposed.
Budi said on Wednesday that the survey would give the ministry first-hand information on what people thought about the new fares, which was needed to evaluate the increase.
"We have heard from ride-hailing service providers and from driver associations [about the impact], but the information does not represent all the opinions of the people,” he said, adding that the ministry would distribute 4,000 questionnaires while conducting the survey.
Previously, homegrown ride-hailing application Go-Jek said the number of orders for ojek dropped after the fares increased. Go-Jek's chief of corporate affairs, Nila Marita, did not provide any details, except to say a decline occurred in all five cities.
Budi said that through the survey the ministry expected to obtain more detailed information, including on the purchasing power of consumers, as well as the fair fares demanded by the drivers. He said the results of the survey would be discussed with the application providers.
The new fares set by decree were an increase of 11 to 20 percent over the rates imposed by ride-haling application providers. The new fares are differentiated by three zones.
What was new in the policy was that the ministry introduced base fares for rides of less than 4 kilometers, which were set at Rp 7,000 (49 US cents) to Rp 10,000 for the first and third zones and from Rp 8,000 to Rp 10,000 for the second zone.
