Jakarta, March 25 (Antara) - After operating for several years without any regulations, online taxi services will now have to follow new rules being worked out by the government, which will be implemented from April 1, 2017.
The new rules, consisting of at least 11 points, are regulated in the revision of Transportation Minister's Regulation No. 32 Year of 2016 on Public Transportation Services Without Fixed Routes.
Both app-based and conventional taxi services should abide by the new regulations, which consist of 11 points, though online taxi operators have yet to agree with 3 of the 11 points.
The government will stick to the April 1, 2017, deadline plan to enforce the rules. However, it will grant a grace period of three months until June 30 to both conventional and online taxi services without sanctions if they violated the rules.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya stated that he will grant the grace period for about three months as a transitional period to both conventional and app-based transportation services to meet the provisions.
"We stick to enforcing the rule as of April 1, 2017, but we will grant grace period for about three transitional months," the transpiration minister added in Jakarta on Friday.
The minister made the remarks in his efforts to popularize the transportation minister's regulations No. PM 32 Year of 2016 on Public Transpiration Services Without Fixed Routes that would put in force on April 1.
The new additions will allow the government to not only officially recognize online taxi services such as Grab, Go-Jek, and Uber by law but also impose limitations on them ranging from fare caps to limitations on cars' minimum engine displacement.
The minister assured that during the grace period, there will be no legal actions taken against violations of the rules, both by police or the transportation service officials. But after three months, drivers or providers of online taxi services will be given sanctions if they commit violations.
He noted that the sanctions could be in the form of the freezing of the IDs of the drivers or blocking of their online applications.
"If they commit violations, their IDs or applications could be suspended. We are studying a system to be applied for suspending members who fail to meet the requirements and violate the rules," the transportation minister remarked.
The implementation of the rules is intended to protect the interest of both drivers and the public. "The fixing of the quota, for example, as well as the upper and lower tariff limits will protect drivers. Basically, the MP 32 regulation focuses on equality and fairness," he added.
The government in revising the regulation by according priority to the principle of fairness while managing app-based transportation services.
"The government wants to create fair regulations. A monopoly in business is not allowed," Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, revealed on Friday.
The senior minister added that the government does not want to restrict the development of app-based transportation services. Moreover, app-based transportation companies have absorbed a lot of Indonesian workers.
He pointed out that the scheme for upper and lower fare limits would be imposed by the government to ensure fairness in app-based and non app-based transportation services.
The regulation contains 11 points on the new provisions concerning online taxi services, but app-based providers are still objecting to three of the 11 points namely quota, tariff limits, and the obligation of the online service to have a corporate identity or transfer vehicle ownership to cooperatives.
He noted that the new regulations are aimed at minimizing competition between conventional and online taxi services.
"The process of putting taxi transportation services in order is not yet completed. Most importantly, once the mass rapid transit and light rail transit projects are completed, they will also reduce the demand for app-based taxi services," Public Communication Head of the Transportation Ministry J.A. Barata remarked meanwhile.
Regarding the conflict so far between conventional taxi operators and online tax services, Barata pointed out that conventional taxi operators should follow the marketing strategy adopted by their app-based counterparts to attract passengers by providing simple, cheap, and quality services.
Benefits to the public from cheap fares offered by app-based taxi services cannot be overlooked, Barata stated.
"We cannot overlook the fact that online taxi services are cheaper than those offered by conventional taxis. Hence, regular taxi operators may not stay silent. They must seek strategies to offer in simple, cheap, and good-quality services," Barata revealed in Jakarta on Saturday.
He pointed out that there are several cost aspects, which are not accounted for in app-based taxi services, notably insurance, vehicle maintenance, and operational costs.
In the meantime, conventional taxis have to bear vehicle expenses such as depreciation, parking, vehicle servicing, and passengers' insurance costs.
He pointed out that regular taxi services should accept the presence of the online taxi service, as the use of technological advancements could not be avoided. ***1***
(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE/H-YH(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 25-03-2017 17:32: |
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