Jakarta Globe, Vanesha Manuturi & Dion Bisara, Sep 15, 2014
 |
| Easy Taxi allows users to hail the closest taxi via smartphone. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya) |
Jakarta.
Six months after launching operations in Indonesia, Easy Taxi, a cab-booking
mobile application, has recruited drivers from Blue Bird and Express, the
country’s two largest taxi operators, to use their app in a bit to boost the
service’s local capacity.
Brazil-based
Easy Taxi launched its service in Jakarta in April. The company says it helps
its users find the closest taxi to their location. The app removes the
inconvenience of having to stand on the side of the road looking for taxis, as
the driver and the user can locate each other at an agreed meeting point
through the app.
The Easy
Taxi app — available in 162 cities worldwide, including Singapore and Kuala
Lumpur — currently has 15 million downloads globally. The company is
establishing its operational inroads by partnering with both companies and
drivers.
Easy Taxi
usually approaches taxi operators first to feel out the opportunity for
partnerships. If such an arrangement can’t be reached, Easy Taxi works directly
with drivers, managing director Usman Lodhi told the Jakarta Globe on Monday.
“We’re not
trying to take something away. We’re just trying to offer an additional channel
for drivers to increase their livelihood,” Lodhi said.
Easy Taxi
claims taxi drivers who work with the application see up to 50 percent more
rides, compared with those who use conventional ways of finding customers.
Although
the company typically charges a small fee — either to the drivers or the
passengers, depending on the market — Easy Taxi’s service is currently still
free in Indonesia as the company attempts to build its base, Lodhi said.
Cab
companies’ reactions to Easy Taxi are mixed, pointing out the app’s redundancy
with their own booking apps.
“We don’t
have a partnership with Easy Taxi,” Teguh Wijayanto, head of public relations
at Blue Bird Group, told the Jakarta Globe last week.
Teguh said
Blue Bird drivers are not supposed to use any third-party booking apps. “We
have our own application and we have our own fleet. Logically, why would [our
drivers] add more fuss into their operations and use another application when
there’s already one?”
But Express
Transindo Utama president director Daniel Podiman, said on Monday that Easy
Taxi was just another way for customers for reach the taxi operator.
“Express
drivers are free to use all the apps that are available. If it’s easier for
customers to reach us, why not?” Daniel said.
Easy Taxi
may face an uphill battle convincing Jakartans of the service’s value
proposition, however, as the city’s apparent abundance of taxis, licensed and
not, means residents seldom face Singapore’s substantial cab queues or Kuala
Lumpur’s notoriously uncooperative drivers. The experience of other cities’
introduction to Uber, however, suggests Easy Taxi’s Indonesia rollout will be
worth watching.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment