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10 Facts About Go-Jek, The Powderful Ride-Hailing App That Might Be Coming to S’pore

2018-04-03 , 12:30 pm

I‘ve never been a fan of services like Uber and Grab and I will probably never be.

For starters, the notion of spending close to $15 just to get from spot to another is a little overwhelming to me.

I mean, $15 is the amount of money I spend on food daily. I would very much prefer to leave home half an hour earlier and catch a bus than to pay this exorbitant sum.

Anyway, while everyone’s been going crazy about how the merger of Grab and Uber is a monopoly and that the Competition Commission is going to wreck them for doing so, others saw this as a golden opportunity.

Yea, RydeX is also coming in with a formal announcement, but read on and you’ll see that Go-Jek is powderful enough to take on Grab.

1. Go-Jek who?

I can understand if you’re confused and tried to decipher the hidden meaning behind the term “Go-Jek”(Well, I was confused too when my colleague told me about it). Heck, the first thing that came to my mind was a plate of Rojak.

Anyway, Go-Jek is an Indonesian ride-hailing phone service company, much like its cousins Grab and Uber. In other words, we may soon have another service provider to choose from!

Considering the prices that Uber and Grab are allegedly charging now, I would say that commuters might just give Go-Jek a shot!

2. Hiring ex-Uber drivers

By now, you should’ve heard the news about how employees of Uber were only given two hours to get out of the office some time back. While this might’ve been a miscommunication, there’s no doubt that many Uber drivers were incredibly upset (or affected) by the decision.

Two of my friends who were driving for Uber actually stopped doing so and are now looking for other career opportunities.

However, I have a feeling they might want to reconsider their decisions soon. In Indonesia, many drivers are jumping ships (cars, in this case) to Go-Jek.

“The pay for drivers is better with Go-Jek. Also at Grab, drivers could easily get suspended,” said Mr Muhammad Marjuki, an ex-Uber driver.

You see, the worry of being suspended is real. Imagine if there’s only Grab in Singapore and you got suspended – you’ve effectively lost your job.

Hmm, perhaps my friends could consider driving for Go-Jek once they’ve successfully entered the local market.

3. The man behind Go-Jek

Did you know that the founder of Go-Jek, Nadiem Makarim, was a Singapore-born Indonesian?

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but some of my colleagues viewed this as a valid reason to support Go-Jek.

4. How fast will Go-Jek grow?

Now, we all know that Go-Jek might very well become Grab’s rival in the future. But how soon are we talking about here? After all, I’m sure the increasing cab prices are burning a hole in your wallet as we speak. So, just how fast will Go-Jek grow?

Pretty damn fast, I would say.

I mean, it’s not like Go-Jek is a new company. They have been around since 2010 and just like all great companies out there— Go-Jek’s got a humble origin.

Their fleet has grown from a humble 20 riders operation back in 2010 to a massive fleet of more than 400,000 riders today!

As such, I believe it’s safe to say that Go-Jek will be able to garner significant attention from us the moment they step foot into local market!

And if you need more statistics to back this up, well, Go-Jek is currently being valued at around $5 billion dollars! What’s more—according to a survey by The Jakarta Post, Go-Jek is the most popular ride-hailing app in Indonesia.

Now, ain’t that something.

5) Go-Jek controversy

Now, time for something interesting(And uh, no, it’s definitely not because I’m running out of things to talk about).

Did you know that Go-Jek was banned by the Transport Ministry of Indonesia back in 2015?

The reason is that they “do not fulfill the requirements for being public transportation.”

President Joko Widodo unbanned Go-Jek on the very same day it was banned.

“I will summon Minister of Transportation this afternoon,” the President of Indonesia said after unbanning Go-Jek.

…I’m not sure about you, but if I were the Minister of Transportation, I would probably feel something like this at that very moment.

Anyway, I’m glad it turned out fine in the end!

6. Go-Jek value adding

So, what does Go-Jek bring to the table that Grab and Uber don’t? By now, we’ve established the fact that Go-Jek will be Grab’s competitor.

But I’m fairly certain that it’ll be more than just that.

Much, much more.

Ooh boy, Go-Jek is starting to remind me of apps like WeChat and Alipay. You know, apps where you can get almost anything done at the tap of a button. Let’s have a closer look at these apps.

7. Go-Massage and more

“What, do they allow you to book massage sessions or something?” my colleague joked, taking a sip of coffee from his mug.

I took a look at the description of the services and well, what do you know.

Now, I have no idea if all of these services would be allowed in Singapore. But boy, Go-Jek might just become its very own monopoly despite having competitors like Grab!

(I should probably get someone to clean our dirty office with the GO-CLEAN option if it ever becomes available in Singapore…)

8. Solid backing

If you still have your doubts about Go-Jek, let it be known that Singapore’s very own Temasek Holdings invested approximately S$131 million in a Go-Jek fundraising effort.

And allow me to mention a few other backers of Go-Jek you would probably know. Google, Tencent Holdings and Meituan-Dianping are all backers of Go-Jek.

Wait, Google?

9. Go-Bike no go

Yeah well, this shouldn’t really come as a surprise. since motorcycle taxis are not allowed in Singapore. So, don’t expect to see motorcycle taxis ferrying people around Singapore anytime soon!

But hey, chances are we’ll still be getting some of the other features! Personally, I’m pretty interested in Go-Shop and Go-Mart. I wonder how they’ll make it work in Singapore.

10. Go-Jek careers

Oh yes, this one’s for you job seekers out there. Once Go-Jek’s fully established in Singapore, I think we can expect to see quite a bit of job opportunities with Go-Jek!

While they have no job vacancies listed under Singapore at the moment (Jeez, relax), be sure to pay attention to their website! You’ll never know where you’ll find yourself a job! (Hey, I never did consider the possibility that I’ll be writing articles for a living, you know)

That being said, there you have it! 10 things about Go-Jek you might want to know. Let’s hope Go-Jek will be able to achieve its full potential in Singapore— just so Grab will give out more promo codes for their rides.

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com