Ride-hailing apps hitting conventional taxis badly

BISNIS ONLINE - The emergence of ride-hailing applications has hit the business of conventional taxis badly as a major part of their market has been taken by the technology-based transportation services.

The two largest conventional taxi operators -- PT Blue Bird and PT Express Transindo Utama, a subsidiary of the Rajawali Group – have posted serious declines in their financial performances, while the smaller operators can hardly survive.

Blue Bird’s income decreased by 14.1 percent to 3.13 trillion (US$231.62 million), while its profits dropped by 16.28 percent to Rp 302.12 billion in the third quarter of 2017.

Express has done worse as its income has dropped by 54.81 percent to Rp 231.62 billion. The company has had to lay off hundreds of employees and sell off property.

Koneksi Kapital research head Alfred Nainggolan said the emergence of the online services had badly disrupted the businesses of conventional taxi firms.

The financial situation of the conventional taxi drivers has been seriously affected because they still have to pay loan installments for their vehicles, Alfred said as reported by kontan.co.id on Thursday.

Alfred, however, believed that large conventional taxi operators like Blue Bird and Express would be able to survive the tough competition as they had started to cooperate with ride-hailing apps – Blue Bird with Gojek and Express with Uber -- in order to adjust their services to the new technology.