The novel 'COVID-19' coronavirus has spread faster than most people have anticipated, and Indonesia is struggling to contain it.
As the archipelago country in the Southeast Asia is implementing even stricter social distancing, one of which is by implementing large-scale social restriction (PSBB, or "Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar") for 14 days, starting from April 10 to 23.
During this time, citizens of Jakarta are temporarily prohibited from performing several activities in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus in the city.
One of the prohibitions is to not allow motorcycles to carry passengers.
For this reason, multi-service apps like Gojek and Grab are disabling their 'ojek' (motorcycle taxi) option.
Customers however, can still hail a car, send packages and get food deliveries. As for online ojek, they are only allowed to transport goods.
The two's move starts initially in the country's capital, Jakarta.
For Grab users, choosing the GrabBike 'ojek' service will redirect them to the GrabCar service.
“The GrabBike feature can still be used by users in Depok [West Java], Tangerang [Banten], Bekasi [West Java], as well as other cities in Indonesia,” said Grab Indonesia managing director Neneng Goenandi.
She added that Grab has prepared 1,000 cars equipped with plastic partitions to separate the driver and the rear passenger seats as part of the preventive measures. The company has also prepared 1,000 GrabBike motorcycles across Indonesia to help transport medical workers to and from hospitals.
As for Gojek users, they won't be seeing the GoRide service, with the app scraping the icon from its home screen.
“We hope this will prevent the spread of Covid-19,” said Gojek Chief of Corporate Affairs Nila Marita, adding that both GoCar and GoGoBluebird are still accessible for those who need it, but "with the maximum of 2 passengers in order to maintain the physical distancing."
Besides that, Gojek's food delivery service GoFood, tele-medics and drugs delivery service GoMed, as well as goods delivery services such as GoSend, GoMart, GoShop and GoBox remain operational during the social restriction period.
The decision wasn't taken lightly by the associations of the app-based ojek drivers.
The head of app-based ojek association Two-Wheel Movement Union (GARDA), Igun Wicaksono, said that drivers earned around 70% of their income from transporting passengers. With PSBB in place, the drivers aren't anymore allowed to carry passengers, meaning that they can only earn 30% of their usual revenue.
Igun demanded the government to at least provide financial aid to compensate the drivers’ projected losses, including for GARDA’s 100,000 members.
“We expect Rp100,000 ($6.12) in financial aid a day,” he said.
He also called for both Grab and Gojek to reduce their cut of the drivers’ fares to 10%, knowing that both companies receive a 20% commission from every order.
“If necessary, the companies should not receive a commission from the drivers’ income during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Igun added.
The Online Driver Association (ADO), which has 50,000 members, also called on the government to provide financial aid to drivers to compensate not only for the losses incurred by the PSBB, but also from the physical distancing policy that was introduced earlier in March.
“[The large-scale physical distancing] measures have made it hard for ojek drivers to make a living, support their families and pay the installments for the vehicles they use to work,” said ADO chairman Wiwit Sudarsono
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said on Friday that Jakarta would follow Health Ministry Regulation No. 9/2020 on large-scale social distancing, after the capital became the epicenter of the outbreak in the country.
Besides stating that ride-hailing services cannot carry passengers and can only transport goods, citizens of Jakarta are prohibited from dining in in restaurants, with all orders should be takeaways.
The government also asked hotels to accept customers who want to self-isolate. But they should make sure that the customers remain in their rooms, with all inquiries going through room services. Citizens of Jakarta can still commute, but with severe restrictions. They aren't allowed to participate in gatherings or anything that create a crowd.
Public transportation methods in the city is also restricted.
The results for the first day were convincing: the amount of activities around Jakarta have been down significantly.
During the first day of PSBB, most roads, streets and venues were quieter than usual, as more people choose to remain home, despite coincided with the public holiday of Good Friday, which typically sees heavy traffic. Highways and tolls throughout the city were also light on traffic.
Anies Baswedan wants to impose PSBB for at least 14 days in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19.