Increased Online Motorcycle Taxi Tariffs, Drivers: Benefits Also Felt By All MSMEs

Illustration of an online motorcycle taxi or ojol driver. (Antara-M Risyal H)

JAKARTA - The online motorcycle taxi or ojol rate has officially increased. This is in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) due to the rising price of subsidized oil fuel oil (BBM) type Pertalite.

Responding to the increase in ojol rates, Ismail, one of the active ojol drivers, agreed with the Ministry of Transportation's decision. He welcomed the long-awaited increase.

"After a long time there has been no increase in tariffs, even before it fell several times, this morning received an official message from Gojek Indonesia informing the increase in lower and upper rates," said Ismail, Monday, September 12.

According to Ismail, this rate increase will greatly help the income of driver-partners affected by the increase in fuel and the increase in operational costs, and the price of daily necessities.

"Alhamdulillah, this can help to reduce daily expenses a little. You see, after the increase in fuel prices, it is followed by an increase in other basic commodities. Hopefully, this is the best choice, and the benefits are not only for us ojol drivers, but also for consumers who are ojol customers and also all MSMEs," he said, quoted by Antara.

He added, apart from GoRide, Gojek, one of the national applicators, also increased the rates of GoCar, GoFood, GoSend, and GoMart. The increase was made by Gojek to help the driver's income after the fuel price increased on September 3.

From the message I got, the increase did not only apply to Goride services, but all other services such as Gofood, Gomart, Gosend. In fact, Gocar's friends also informed about this price increase," said Ismail.

Previously, the Ministry of Transportation increased the cost of minimum services or minimum tariffs and tariffs per kilometer in three zonings. The increase ranges from 6-13 percent.

The Director General of Land Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation, Hendro Sugiatno, during a press conference, stated that the adjustment of the cost of this service was carried out in the context of adjustments to several components of service costs such as oil talent (BBM), regional minimum wage (UMR), and other service calculation components.

"For the cost of online motorcycle taxi services in 2022, we have decided that there will be an increase, namely for zone I from the lower limit of IDR 1,850, it will increase to IDR 2,000 or an increase of 8 percent. For the upper limit of IDR 2,300, it will increase to IDR 2,500, which is an increase of 8.7 percent. And the minimum cost of services to IDR 8,000-IDR 10,000," he explained.

Meanwhile, for zone II, there was an increase in lower limit costs by 13.33 percent and an upper limit by 6 percent compared to KP548 in 2020.

"For zone II, from KP 548 of 2020, the lower limit is IDR 2,250, it increases to IDR 2,550, for the upper limit from IDR 2,650 it increases to IDR 2,800. So there is an increase in the lower limit of 13 percent, an upper limit of 6 percent. The cost of services is at least IDR 10,200-IDR 11,200," explained Hendro.

For zone III the lower limit from IDR 2,100 rose to IDR 2,300 (up 9.5 percent), the upper limit from IDR 2,600 to IDR 2,750 (up 5.7 percent), and the minimum service fee is IDR 9,200-IDR 11,000.