Economist's Suggestion To The Government Concerning The Increase In Ojol Tariffs: A Reasonable Figure Of 10 Percent

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JAKARTA - Research Director of the Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Indonesia Piter Abdullah assessed that the increase in online motorcycle taxi fares should be carried out moderately, or not immediately high.

According to Piter, the increase in ojol tariffs of more than 30 percent is relatively high and has the potential to increase inflation in the country.

"In my opinion, a reasonable figure is a maximum of 10 percent. I also wonder why it has risen so high, what is the calculation like," Piter said in a statement in Jakarta, Saturday, August 13, as reported by Antara.

The Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) issued the Decree of the Minister of Transportation Number KP 564 of 2022 concerning Guidelines for Calculation of Service Fees for the Use of Motorcycles Used for the Interest of the Community carried out by Application. The rules were signed on August 4, 2022.

When compared to the previous regulation, only ojol fares in Jabodetabek have increased, but the minimum service fee for the first 4 kilometers in the three zones has increased by more than 30 percent.

The ojol fare per kilometer in Jabodetabek is IDR 2,600 - IDR 2,700 per km from the previous IDR 2,250 - IDR 2,650 per kilometer.

According to Piter, if the increase is that high, the ojol fare will be close to the taxi fare, thereby making the public's interest in using ojol likely to decrease.

If that happens, continued Piter, it will have an impact on the income of drivers or ojol drivers which has the potential to decrease.

Meanwhile, business actors in the micro or MSME sector who are members of applications such as GoFood, GrabFood, and ShopeeFood, also have the opportunity to experience a decrease in income if ordering food via the application is reduced due to high ojol tariffs.

"It should be noticed that the lower class people are very sensitive to price increases. Moreover, people's purchasing power has been eroded due to the pandemic, there have been many layoffs, decreased salaries, increases in food prices, prices of goods, and so on," said Piter.