A protest led by both conventional and online public transportation system in Makassar took places in many cities of Indonesia as the newly enacted Transportation Ministry regulation on ride-hailing applications failed to immediately put tensions to rest, which made the mayhem in the local transportation system and the tourists faces the problem.
In Makassar, South Sulawesi, hundreds of conventional transportation drivers held a rally in front of South Sulawesi governor office, demanding the provincial administration of Jakarta to right away issue a policy to limit the number of vehicles using the app-based services in the province, despite the new regulation that came into force the same day.
One of the protesters said that they have suffered decreasing income ever since online taxi’s began operating in Makassar about a year ago. Some of the protesters turned the peaceful rally into a violent one by throwing stones at a passing car. The chairman of the Land Transportation Organization Makassar, Zainal Abidin, said there were some 12,000 vehicles employed by app-based services.
The conventional transportation system in the city is currently consisted of 2,000 taxis, 4,000 angkot (public minivans) and 24,000 becak motor (motorized tricycles), which is not an ample for the local people and the tourists.
In response to the protest, South Sulawesi Transportation Agency Head Ilyas Iskandar said that the ministerial regulation would be implemented in the province of Makassar.
All cars employed by online-based services would also be required to register.
South Sulawesi Transportation Agency Head Ilyas Iskandar also said that only half of the 2,000 conventional taxis in Makassar are still in operation while, of the 10,000 online-based cars, only 1,000 have been registered.
