Enjoy Indonesia (Tips: How to Use Ojek, the Motorcycle Taxi in Indonesia)

Online service of Motorcycle taxi popularly called Ojek has been going viral in Indonesia  lately, especially in big cities like Jakarta, Medan, and Bali. We can simply install the application in our android phone and contact the operator to get the service. It is a good news actually, but for us as travelers, we need more than that, in many small cities or villages across Indonesia, this facilities are still not available yet. Not all people in those areas are connected with internet and it is also something that is not considered ‘urgent’ for the local authorities to provide. As the result, the traditional motor taxi or ojek is still the best option to transport us from one place to another in an urgently unplanned situation. In this article, I want to share some tips that you may need to know before you use the traditional ojek in Indonesia.

1. You will mostly need the ojek in an urgent situation when you don’t have a plan, so before finding an ojek, make sure that you know your destination. Knowing the destination means that you know the name of the street, or at least an iconic place or building that is close to your destination. Remember, in some areas in Indonesia, people are not familiar with street names, so it is better if you have an additional information about the location of the address you want to go to.
2. After knowing the address of your destination, (you can use maps in the internet of course).  If possible you can gather some information from other people about the distance of your destination. Is it far? How many minutes or hours does it take to reach that place by car or motorcycle approximately? Asking how many kilometers or miles can be useless since people won’t really know about it. We can be surprised to know that what people say can be totally different from what we see in the maps.
3. Before finding an ojek, you can also ask people like office or mall securities, shop keepers, and so on how much you should pay if you take an ojek to your destination from where you are. It will help you to compare the price the ojek rider gives you later.
4. Get an ojek in an ojek station. It will be a lot safer to get an ojek in the ojek station (pangkalan ojek) because they are all identified and staying there every day. OJek stations are mostly located in the corners of streets or in front of public buildings like mall, campus, or hospitals. Ojek riders usually show their identity by wearing a vest with different colors with the name of the areas and number written on it. You can memorize it in case you need it. You can also stop an ojek anywhere with the vest identification.
5. After you get an ojek, tell him your destination, whether he knows it for sure or not. If he does, ask how much you should pay. If the price he gives you is just way too much, then you just say good bye to him. Tell him that you know the average price since you already ask people about it or tell him that it is not your first time to go by ojek to that destination. Mostly he will lower the price. If it is okay for you, then you can go with him.
6. Make an in advance deal but pay later. If you just go without having a deal with the price, he can charge you beyond what you can imagine! It is so very important that you make a deal before you decide to go with him. But if you are ready to pay more, then it’s okay.
7. Ask how long it will take. This may not be important but still worth asking. By knowing this from the ojek rider, it will narrow him from taking you around or trying to take you somewhere else since you already have some information about it. Well, Good luck with your ojek! LT