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Co-founders of Ojek Syari, an on-demand motorcycle taxi service caters to Muslim women in Indonesia– Evilita Adriani (left) and Reza Samir.Ojek Syari
(Wall Street Journal) Riding motorcycle-taxis can be tricky for Muslim women who are not allowed to ride with men they are not married to, according to Islamic Law. But a new on-demand service in Indonesia is ready to solve that problem.
Ojek Syar’i caters to this market by providing motorcycle-taxis known as ojek in Indonesia, driven by hijab-wearing Muslim women.
The startup, based in Surabaya – a port city on the Indonesian island of Java– started in March this year and follows the Islamic teaching that suggests that unmarried men and women shouldn’t ride a motorcycle together, a practice commonly found in Indonesia where ojek is a popular transportation mode.
“Many women complained that their options for women-only public transportation mode are limited,” said PT Ojek Syari Indonesia’s 19-year old co-founder, Evilita Adriani in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “There should be plenty of transportation services designed specifically for women.”
Ojek Syar’i has expanded to nine cities outside its home town of Surabaya, 470 miles from Jakarta, including the capital and its satellite cities of Tangerang and Bekasi. It relies on social media websites to market its service as the company is building its first mobile application for Android devices to reach more customers, Ms. Adriani said.
In the absence of an app, passengers can order a ride by sending texts to its designated Whatsapp number, SMS, or call the customer service hotline. It operates every day from 6.00 a.m. until 8.00 p.m., but if customers require an ojek earlier it can be arranged, Ms. Adriani said. It won’t take orders later than 8.00 p.m. to consider the safety of its more than 200 drivers, she added.
Although non-Muslim women can also order the service, Ojek Syar’i only allows Muslim women to be their drivers, the company says.
Base fare is 5,000 rupiah (US 30 cents), while additional fare is 3,000 rupiah (US 20 cents) with a minimum distance of five kilometers. The company gets 30% of revenue from every ride, while the rest goes to the drivers. Ms. Adriani hopes that in the future she can help more women in need by expanding the company to other cities beyond the Java Island.
In Indonesia, Ojek Syar’i is going head-to-head with LadyJek, another service in Jakarta which targets women riders. It also competes with larger companies such as Go-Jek and GrabBike, which both have secured funding from investors. Go-Jek alone has 200,000 drivers.
Ms. Adriani, currently in her second year of college, founded the service with her friend Reza Samir in March. She says her dream job is to be “a problem solver” and used to work part-time as a food delivery courier and ojek driver before she decided to set up her company.
“When I was carrying passengers, I felt more comfortable when I rode with women,” Ms. Adriani said, adding that her experience drove her to build the service with Mr. Samir.
“We often heard about sexual harassment that happened to women on public transportation,” Ms. Adriani said.
During the first few months of Ojek Syar’i’s inception, the two founders faced many challenges including doubts raised by their friends and parents. Lack of funding also forced Ms. Adriani and Mr. Samir to be stringent about costs from the start.
“My parents were not supportive,” Ms. Adriani said. “They said, ‘a girl shouldn’t be out during the night’ but now they’re fine because I’m focusing more on the company’s management.”
