Uber battle: How Indonesia's taxi drivers are forging a ride-hailing resistance
A lot of Indonesians need cab rides. The question is, who鈥檚 going to pick them up.
Local moto-taxi ride-hailing service Go-Jek launched on Thursday a new arrangement with traditional taxi operator Blue Bird, incorporating its fleet of 23,000 cabs into its own services in Jakarta, . That means co-opting one of the most forceful opponents of ride-hailing services 鈥� in Jakarta, thousands of Blue Bird drivers have in the past blocked major arteries in protest of the services鈥� entry into the local market.
The announcement came the same day as Grab, the Singapore-based ride-hail, said it is investing $700 million in Indonesia over the next four years, . The investment will go toward a research and development center in Jakarta with 150 new engineers, a $100 million investment fund for local finance tech companies, and the expansion of GrabPay, its mobile-payment service.
Indonesia represents Grab's biggest market. But it鈥檚 also considered fertile territory by rivals 鈥� the market for ride-hailing services are expected to reach $5.6 billion by 2025, and Uber has a presence in several Indonesian cities along with a foreign investment company in the capital.
That multi-party wrangling over market share seems to pose an alternative vision to other, more two-sided fights over the future of urban cab services.
In November, 海角大神鈥檚 Ben Rosen reported that a case against Uber had reached the highest court of the European Union, where ride-sharing apps have been met with perhaps the most substantial resistance:
With an estimated value of $68 billion, Uber and its聽ongoing battle with the taxi industry has been at the center of this controversy.聽
鈥淭he biggest impact,鈥� Schor writes about the taxi industry, 鈥渋s likely the erosion in the value of [taxi drivers'] medallions, the licenses they must possess to operate, because these medallions yield pure rents.鈥�
In Paris, for instance, traditional taxi drivers聽enjoyed a monopoly of privilege and power, Dominique Andolfatto, a professor of political science at the University of Bourgogne, told 海角大神 last year. But now, frustrated with the current system, many younger French citizens, in particular, are embracing economic deregulation.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 interesting is that Uber has accomplished something that we thought would never happen in France: digital innovations are inciting change where politicians have failed to do so,鈥� David Viret-Lange, the chief information officer at French telecom giant Orange Business Services, told the Monitor.聽
Indonesia鈥檚 market would seem especially dynamic in comparison, perhaps in part because of how people are getting around: in addition to cars, Grab鈥檚 services include a motorbike-pooling service; Uber also recently added a two-wheeler service called UberMotor, as well as chauffeur-driven rental cars in Bali, reports the Journal.
As the Monitor鈥檚 Lonnie Shekhtman wrote last August, some economists see political battles over the ride-sharing market as unnecessarily two-dimensional.
"Some say there鈥檚 only room for one dominant company in each international market,鈥� she wrote. "Yet others point out that there鈥檚 definitely room for more, given that it鈥檚 so easy to start a ride-hailing service: There are no infrastructure costs, few employees, and no reason for customers to get locked in. For riders, who can order rides quickly and easily through a phone app, the more competition the better."
