Uber plans trial with Indonesian taxi operator

Alan Jiang, Managing Director Uber Indonesia.

Uber says it planning a trial with one of Indonesia’s major taxi operators, Express Group.

It won’t be like GrabTaxi, which lets you order a regular cab through the app – a model already tried and tested by Southeast Asia’s Uber rival Grab.

Uber’s partnership with Express will have taxi cabs drive for the same fare and conditions as UberX cars.

At least that’s the plan because Uber hasn’t said when the test phase begins.

It’ll work just like a normal UberX, where the rider is matched with an Express taxi driver if an idle one happens to be nearby, Uber told Tech in Asia. Riders will be notified through the app if this happens, so they can expect a car with taxi branding.

Another aspect of the partnership is a vehicle-financing option, in which existing and future Uber drivers can lease vehicles from Express Group – these will have no taxi attributes or branding – and pay it off in monthly installments through earnings generated from driving for Uber.

Express Group claims to operate 11,000 taxi cabs. However, only a limited number of Express’ taxi fleet will participate in the test phase, and it’s limited to the capital.

Jostling for good news

Competition in Southeast Asia’s O2O transportation space is intense. Especially Indonesia is a hot battleground, where Uber and Grab face another strong competitor in the form of Go-Jek.

All three companies are jostling to stay ahead, and adding new features is a big part of that.

Grab and Go-Jek both recently introduced mobile wallets for users to store digital money which can be redeemed for rides and other services. The transportation apps entered the fintech arena.

Uber’s agreement with Express could sting both its rivals.

Express Group is also an ally of Grab. The taxi company was Grab’s partner when it first launched its GrabTaxi service in Indonesia. We’ve reached out to Grab to find out if it also has plans to have Express cabs join the GrabCar fleet. Uber wouldn’t say if its arrangement with Express is exclusive.

Uber could also beat Go-Jek to the punch if its trial starts soon.