More news about Uber, this time from Indonesia. The app-based ride-hailing service and its competitor Grab have been told by the government that they must work with a local transport business and register their cars by the end of May if they want to go on operating in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Reuters reports.
Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said that Uber and Grab are app companies, and if they want to operate in the republic, they have to partner with a transportation business entity, like a car rental company.
Both Grab and US-based Uber said they will abide by the new rules, which have come about just days after thousands of cabbies held a protest rally in Jakarta to demand the government ban the two companies. Some violence was reported during the protest.
“Even before the demonstrations, we had started the process to help our drivers form a cooperative unit and meet the requirements,” Grab Indonesia’s MD Ridzki Kramadibrata told the news agency. Uber, meanwhile, said it would partner with a car rental company.
Both Uber and Grab have chosen to have the cooperatives operate as a rental car, rather than taxi, service, The Nikkei reports. Apparently, rental car services deal with fewer tariffs and regulations. Cooperatives partnering with Grab and Uber have been given a deadline of May 31, 2016, to settle all permit processing, the country’s transport ministry explained.
As is the case elsewhere, traditional taxi operators are unhappy with the presence of the new operators, which they view as a threat to their livelihoods. The proliferation of cheap taxis using the ride-hailing apps in Jakarta has made traditional pick-up and drop-off taxi services unprofitable, drawing the ire of taxi firms. In Malaysia, it was announced that the services will not be banned, but they will need to be regulated.
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Other countries legalising Uber dihalalkan.
MY Gov leagalising Uber mesti diharamkan.