In Indonesia, two-wheeled vehicles are used as a means of transportation. His name is Ojek, a motorcycle taxi. Ojeks are everywhere. The problem is that there is no regulation about motorcycle taxis. The government is still reluctant to recognize it as a means of transportation because restrictions in Indonesia do not include two-wheeled vehicles. In the Ojek system, prices are determined by agreement. There is no fixed rule about distance and price/km. Also, this service is limited to just dropping off people.
In 2015, Nadiem Makarim, an Indonesian youth who graduated from Harvard, returned to Indonesia and thought that this local wisdom could be managed with an application. This application can make distance/km rules more transparent to ojek drivers or their passengers. In-app services are also extending to courier services, food delivery, and even financial technology. This application is now known as Gojek.
picture source: gojek.com
Gojek does follow Uber's business model. But in Indonesia, Uber is entered as a taxi application only. So the service is not as big as Gojek's service. See www.gojek.com for more details.
Ojek drivers strongly oppose Gojek's presence. Massive demonstrations took place in several cities in Indonesia. Thousands of Blue Bird taxi drivers, the biggest taxi company in Indonesia, also demonstrated in Jakarta. They challenge the birth of Gojek and think Gojek has damaged their prices and business.
But Gojek is still running. Even Blue Bird (see www.blubirdgroup.com) which previously opposed Gojek, then uses the Gojek application in their taxi service application and Go Car, taxi service on Gojek using Blue Bird vehicles. Win-win solution.
Six years have passed, Gojek has developed as a super app. Now Gojek's valuation is worth USD 12.5 billion, And Gojek's business expansion with the same business model has penetrated Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand.
Gojek's last corporate action in 2021 was to merge with the most extensive e-commerce application in Indonesia, namely Tokopedia. According to Techwire Asia, this merger makes GoTo (the new name of the union) is becoming a digital business services giant in Asia
Now Gojek is the only one in Southeast Asia included in the list of Fortune Top 20 Companies Changing the World Employs about 2 million motorcycle taxi drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers, contributing Rp 7.1 Trillion to the wheels Indonesian wheels economy. Moreover, almost 80% of online sales during the pandemic in Indonesia are sold through Gofood.