Ministry to mediate drivers and ride-hailing apps on tariff

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Transportation Ministry would mediate between online motorcycle taxi drivers and ride-hailing apps to discuss issues on tariff. The government has no regulation on motorcycle taxi.

The ministry's Director General for Land Transportation, Budi Setiyadi, said that the government cannot regulate motorcycle taxi operations. 'Ojek' online is not categorized as public transportation under the law no. 22/2009 on land transportation.

"How could we regulate them without any legal basis," Setiyadi stated to Antara on Wednesday.

Therefore, the issue on tariff should be discussed between the online transportation firm and the drivers, he added. "Drivers should be involved in the discussion to set the tariff. This should become the company's consideration," he remarked.

Setiyadi reiterated that the ministry would only mediate the discussion between the company and the drivers.

"We will help the representatives of drivers to meet with the management to create a healthy business climate, so that drivers could get passengers easily," he noted.

The issue, he revealed, might also involve the manpower ministry regarding drivers' welfare, the parliament for its regulation, and the police for its safety."Even if the House of Representatives would revise the law, it would take time, as it has to evaluate them first," he explained.

On the other hand, the police data showed that motorcycles are the largest contributors to road accident so far.

Therefore, it would not be easy to include motorcycles in the category of public transportation, especially considering f its safety and security.