Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – The newly enacted Transportation Ministry regulation on ride-hailing applications failed to immediately put tensions to rest as protests by both conventional and online public transportation services took place in some cities on Wednesday.
In Makassar, South Sulawesi, hundreds of conventional transportation drivers held a rally in front of South Sulawesi governor office, demanding the provincial administration to immediately 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.
"We have suffered decreasing income ever since online taxi's began operating in Makassar about a year ago," said Hamzah, one of the protesters.
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.
Conventional transportation in the city currently consisted of 2,000 taxis, 4,000 angkot (public minivans) and 24,000 becak motor (motorized tricycles).
In response to the protest, South Sulawesi Transportation Agency Head Ilyas Iskandar said the ministerial regulation would be implemented in the province. All cars employed by online-based services would also be required to register.
"At the moment, 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," Ilyas said. (bbs)