Jakarta Motorcycle Taxis Get an App Lift

Motorcycle taxis, known as ojeks, have long offered a fast way for residents to cheaply zigzag through gridlocked roads in Jakarta, a city knocked for having the world’s worst traffic.

But, until recently, they were informal and inefficient – ojek drivers would queue at taxi lines or troll streets to negotiate fluctuating fares with potential riders. Some joined courier companies or delivery fleets working with restaurants to zip around fried noodles, chicken sate and other food orders.

Now startups are trying to capitalize on those inefficiencies, launching mobile applications that connect those needing a ride to available motorcycle taxis.

New app-based ojek businesses like Go Jek and GrabBike see huge potential in the world’s second-largest city, with 10 million people, whose road commuters log the most stops and starts anywhere—33,240 a year, according to a ranking by Castrol in February.

Once these companies enlist them, they hand out jackets, helmets and smartphones so they can receive ride requests through their apps. They also set base fares and provide insurance. The system is good for customers and companies, which don’t have to buy fleets of motorcycles, and the ojek drivers, who end up making more money by getting more business and a set part of each fare.

Venture capitalists have begun pumping money in, and Jakarta Gov. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is so taken by the possibility of reducing some of the city’s congestion that he is in talks with Go Jek to feed commuters into the public bus system or coming light rail.

Go Jek is  a “very smart solution for the city,” Gov. Purnama told reporters this week, adding the city might provide ojek drivers with special parking near bus stations.

App-based motorcycle taxis also operate in other low-cost labor markets with intractable traffic, such as Hanoi and Uganda.

It’s a market with huge potential given the growing number of cars and the lack of public transportation.

While it’s difficult to quantify the number of ojeks on the road, groups of them gather on almost every corner of the city. Blue Bird, which runs the largest taxi fleet in the country with 37% of market share, has 16,000 cars in Jakarta. Its app gets between 8,000 and 12,000 orders each day, said President Director Noni Purnomo.

Greg Lindsey, a senior fellow with the New Cities Foundation mobility initiative, says these startups are bringing hidden resources to the surface. “Every vehicle in the city is potentially part of its transportation network.”