Top 3 benefits of riding an Ojek
Indonesia’s #1 Mode of Transportation written by a weekly ojek user
Welcome to Jakarta, Indonesia! My home and my city. One of the biggest metropolitan cities in Southeast Asia and probably around the world! And like all other big cities, we have big-city problems like traffic, overcrowding, pollution, and more.
“Jakarta is not Jakarta without its crazy traffic.” — quoted by myself
And like other developing countries especially around Asia, the most common mode of transportation is the two-wheeled motorbike (or as my countrymen call it, Ojek).
Gojek, Indonesia’s first Decacorn (is a word used for those companies over $10 billion) initially established its firm roots in the ride-hailing industry but unlike Uber and Lyft (who focus on cars), Gojek’s main focus was Ojeks! Currently, Gojek is en-route to be Indonesia’s super-app but for the sake of this article, we won’t get into that part of the story :)
Top 3 benefits of riding an Ojek
- Fastest mode of transportation
According to many surveys like Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Jakarta, Indonesia has received the status of the city with the worst traffic in the world. The city was reviewed to have the highest number of stops and starts with an average of 33, 240 per drive per year. — Quote from article published by Axis Capital Group
Drivers (including myself) in Jakarta spend an average of 22 days a year in traffic.
“In a day, drivers in Jakarta spend an average of 68 minutes in traffic and 21 minutes looking for parking,” — Quote from article published by Jakarta Post
Yeahhh, after reading all that Jakarta sounds like a traffic nightmare right? That is why companies like Gojek exists! It offers citizens and tourists a much slimmer, faster, and more agile mode of transportation compared to the ‘car’. But how much faster?
Case study time! Let us take my personal experience as a case. I work at Pasaraya (Gojek HQ) and I often meet up with my friends after work around the Senayan area or the SCBD area. With a car, this typically takes around 15–40 minutes depending on traffic. With an ojek, this will take about 5–15 minutes. That is almost 3x faster!
2. It’s affordable
The fare can range from 5,000 to 10,000 rupiah (about US$0.32 to US$0.65) for short trips and 15,000 to 45,000 rupiah (about US$1.0 to US$3.0) for longer trips.
My personal record for the cheapest ride is 1,000 rupiah (about US$0.065) and my personal highest was around 60,000 rupiah (about US$3.89). Pretty damn affordable right? Especially for you folks outside Asia. (come visit Indooo!)
3. It’s actually pretty darn safe
Prior to the birth of Gojek and Grab, I have used such services before and nothing but raves from my experience in riding one!
Today companies like Gojek and Grab have protocols that these drivers have to follow. With the help of GPS technology and apps such as Google Maps or Waze, drivers have to follow the route given on the app unless told otherwise by the customer. And if a customer requests the driver to slow down and drive safely, he/she should comply.
4. (Extra benefit) — It’s actually pretty invigorating despite the pollution
Just by sitting on a wobbly scooter, it personally gives me more life! Being outside and not contained by the confined spaces of a car. Try it out yourself!
