This startup is Uberizing traditional car rental service in Bali

Transportation is one of the most talked-about spaces in Indonesia’s tech startup scene right now. The ongoing saga between GrabBike and Go-Jek has been a subject of constant media scrutiny. Uber has also been making headlines. Clearly, finding an elegant solution to Jakarta’s traffic problem is a task worth pursuing, and we can expect the struggle to get more entertaining before year’s end. We can also expect to see more new players in the archipelago.

Tripves is a brand new startup co-founded by Jati Andrianto and Tamir Tsogbayar, two local guys with Master’s degrees from the International University of Japan. Andrianto is a former investment banker. Tsogbayar used to be a back-end developer at the Central Bank of Mongolia. Now, they’re both entrepreneurs.

The pair call Tripves “the first peer-to-peer carsharing marketplace in Indonesia.” The site, which recently launched in beta, connects car renters, owners, and drivers on a single marketplace. The way it works is pretty simple. Users can search for and rent vehicles for customized durations of time, with or without a driver. Car owners can rent out their cars to earn money. Users can also sign up to become drivers, just like Uber.

Sounds simple enough, right? In theory, yes, but there are also some obstacles to think about. The first challenges that comes to mind are legality, protection of the car, and the driver screening process. Andrianto tells Tech in Asia all cars rented out by owners must have complete and legal registrations. According to the co-founders, all cars on the marketplace must have insurance, and drivers must also pass a screening process. Tripves claims it interviews all drivers personally, although it did not provide explicit details on the approval process.

See: Indonesia’s LepasKunci is a cross between Uber and Avis

Born in Bali

Tripves says its marketplace could lead to Rp 5 million (US$360) per month in extra income for car owners. Drivers can likely earn more than Rp 4.5 million (US$324) per month, the team estimates, which is above Indonesia’s minimum earning wage. Additionally, the co-founders say the site adds value because it lets drivers flexibly manage their own working hours.

But before tackling the Big Durian, where traffic is a serious problem, Andrianto and Tsogbayar are fine-tuning their business model in Bali – a more controlled environment than Jakarta with a steady influx of tourists who need to rent cars.

“Bali is just for our launch and we will have [our] next big thing in Jakarta and other big cities in Indonesia over the next couple months,” says Andrianto. “Bali is ‘neutral place’ to accept […] innovation. Although we have a legal license for all of the cars in our marketplace, we don’t want to make controversial [moves] in the market […] as Uber does.”

Andrianto and Tsogbayar have another interesting rationale. Andrianto explains:

Data [from] 2014 shows the total number of tourists that visited Bali [was] 3,766,638 and if we use the simple calculation that [the total number of] tourists is divided by four people for every group travelling, there are 941,659 groups travelling. It’s a good market for the car rental business.

Euromonitor says the market size for the car rental business in Southeast Asia is predicted to hit US$4.98 billion and around 43 percent of that will come from Indonesia.

Looking for a 60 percent market share