The impacts of online Ojek in Indonesian cities

1. Introduction
Internet can play a pivotal role the economy. It is acknowledged that internet is boosting online
transportation services, especially transportation services such as “ojek” online services and Uber.
“Ojek” is a transportation service using a motorbike where motorbikes’ owners offer users pick up and
drop off services. In the past, users of “traditional Ojek” would come at a Ojek station to use a Ojek
service. In Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, there are many Ojek services, especially in suburban
areas.
There are many disadvantages of traditional Ojek such as insecure, informal fees (no standard fees)
and limited Ojek stations. However, Ojek is so popular as Ojek is affordable (more affordable than
taxi) and little traffic jam (motorbike tends to move quickly in crowded traffics). It should be noted
that Jakarta has experienced massive traffic jams as Jakarta is being the center of government and
business.
Online Ojek services such as Gojek has been initiated about five years ago (CNN Indonesia and The
Indonesia Institute). This online service offers services using online application such as Go-drive
(Anindhita et al., 2016). Compared to traditional Ojek, online Ojek can capture a lot of areas and can
reach users as online Ojek can be ordered using internet applications and can be used in more places
than traditional Ojek. Online Ojek is also more secure and more organized as online Ojek has been
united into a business or a company like Gojek (for example www.Go-jek.com). In short, Ojek online
uncovers limitations of traditional Ojek including insecure, informal fees and limited Ojek stations. At
the same time, online Ojek still is more affordable and a little traffic jam issue. Table 1 exhibits a
simplified comparison between traditional Ojek and online Ojek.
Descriptions Traditional Ojek Online Ojek
Availability Limited Ojek stations – not available 24 More Ojek stations – available
hours a day 24 hours a day
Fee No standard fee A standard fee
Security Insecure, as Ojek users do not know Ojek More secure, as Ojek users
riders’ identity know Ojek riders’ identity
Table 1. A simplified comparison between traditional vs online Ojek
As consequence of the hype of online Ojek, there a lot of people join online Ojek. It is claimed that in
Jakarta only, online Ojek riders and users has reached about 100 thousand and 1 million users a day
respectively (CNN Indonesia). Recently, the users of online Ojek can use online Ojek for several
purposes including, passenger transfer, fast food transfer and fast post mail. This means that online
Ojek has increased employment level and economic output.
Because of its affordability and practical, online Ojek has potential to decrease the use of private cars
in Jakarta. The increasing use of private cars is usually blamed as a main source of pollution, emission
and traffic jam in Jakarta. Because of this, online Ojek has a potential to decrease greenhouse emission
in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, leading to an environmentally friendly living space. Table 2
exhibits a simplified comparison between Ojek and taxis (or private cars or public buses).
 Descriptions Taxis (or private cars or public buses) Online Ojek
Emission Higher emissions as cars usually requires A lower emission
more fuel than bikes
Fee A higher fee A standard and lower fee
Travel time Longer time travel Shorter time travel as bikes can
move quickly in crowded
traffics
Table 2. A simplified comparison between Taxis vs Ojek
2. Research Questions
This research plan has following a research question: Is online Ojek is a sustainable transportation?
Online ojek will be a sustainable transportation if online Ojek has positive impacts in three indicators:
economy, social and environment. In answering this question, additional questions will be investigated
as follows:
Has online Ojek like Gojek increased employment, economic output and greenhouse emission level
in Jakarta and other cities?
What is the most and least impacted sector after online Ojek?
If time is sufficient, this study should answer another research question:
If this study finds that online Ojek is not a sustainable transportation, what policies needed to make
online Ojek be a sustainable transportation?
3. Materials and Methods
Statistics data between 1990-2017 will be separated into two periods: 1990-2010 and 2011-2017. Data
will be collected from BPS (Indonesian’s Statistic Bureau) in some cities such as Jakarta, Depok and
Bekasi. Some data including economic output in transportation sectors, the number of online Ojek
users, fuel consumption, the users of taxis as well as taxi and online Ojek drivers will be collected.
Statistics analysis such as correlation and SAM (social accounting matrix) will be applied to identify
the effects of online Ojek on employment, economic outputs and emission level (carbon dioxide level).
For emission level, this data will be collected from the greenhouse station of Indonesia, Kototabang
station.
If time is permitted, this study will investigate viable options in providing the most affordable and the
most sustainable transportation service for Indonesia cities. This study will elucidate the most
sustainable transportation for big cities such as Jakarta and smaller cities such as Denpasar. The system
dynamics (SD) approach (www.systemdynamics.org) will be applied to assess viable options. When
real words are not linear, provide multiple outputs and have different viable options/policies, the SD
approach is a more suitable tool to assess multiple outputs and multiple options/policies in this study
(Sterman, 2000).
 Data Source(s) Purposes
Carbon dioxide level Kototabang station Assessing emission level
Fuel consumption BPS Assessing the effects of online Ojek
to fuel consumption (natural
resource)
The number of online Ojek BPS and www.Go-jek.com Assessing the impacts of online Ojek
drivers on employment
Economic output inBPS Assessing the impacts of online Ojek
transportation sectors on economy
Economic outputs and BPS Assessing the impacts of online Ojek
employment level in other to other sectors
sectors
The level of employment in BPS Assessing the impacts of online Ojek
transportation sectors on employment
The number of taxi drivers and BPS and Bluebird (a main Assessing the impacts of online Ojek
the number of public buses taxi company) on taxi business/public buses
Table 3. Data will be collected
References
Anindhita, W., Arisanty, M., Rahmawati, D. (2016). Analisis penerapan teknologi komunikasi tepat
guna pada bisnis transportasi ojek online. Prosiding seminar nasional indocompac Universitas
Bakrie, Jakarta. 2-3 Mei 2016.

Pangaribuan, N, R., Wijaya, N, M, S., & Mahadewi, N, P. (2016). Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi
keputusan wisatawan menggunakan transportasi berbasis aplikasi di PT. Gojek Indonesia. IPTA,
4(2), 64-68

Sterman, J.D. (2000). Business dynamics: Systems thinking and modeling for a complex world.
Boston, MA:Irwin McGraw Hill.

Articles from CNN Indonesia and The Indonesian Institute and www.Go-jek.com.