Taxi drivers in Jakatra go off the roads to protest against Uber and Grab cabs

Taxi drivers in Indonesia are up in arms against the intrusion into their territories by modern day cab operators like Uber and Grab who are snatching away the livelihood of taxi drivers who are not linked with app based cab operators. In order to show their anger, thousands of taxi drivers caused traffic chaos in the Indonesian capital in a rowdy protest against competition from ride-hailing apps like Uber and Grab.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 23 March 2016.

Long lines of taxis blocked a central expressway with the drivers setting tyres on fire and jumping on vehicles that did not want to join the protest. It seems drivers surrounded one taxi and forced its female passenger to leave the vehicle with her luggage.
This protest is the second major protest by taxi drivers in Jakarta in the current month. Ride-hailing apps do not face the same costs and rules as regular taxis, and this has severely affected and reduced their income. Many of the drivers come to Jakarta from other parts of Indonesia and rive taxis to support their families back home.
Incidentally, Uber has been trying to penetrate the markets in Asia and are intensifying competition in a region where there already was a slew of ride-hailing apps.
The protest by the taxi drivers did not get much sympathy from commuters because Jakarta is a city that is already struggling daily with massive congestion.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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