Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab Indonesia will restrict the operations of its e-scooter service GrabWheels and promises to immediately crackdown on users who violate regulations, a company’s official said on Monday.
The move follows an accident last week, where two 18-year-old users of Grab’s e-scooter line GrabWheels died after being hit by a car, near the FX Sudirman area in central Jakarta.
Tri Sukma Anreianno, head of public affairs at Grab Indonesia, explained that the restrictions are aimed at minimizing the risk of accidents. Among the regulations, users of GrabWheels must be at least 18 years old and above, only one person is allowed on one e-scooter at any point, and pillion riding is forbidden. Grab has also set a speed limit for e-scooters at 15 km per hour, and is equipping its e-scooters with auto-on lights and reflectors so that they remain visible at night.
“The penalty is IDR 300,000 (USD 21.38) for those who violate the regulations. In addition, we will suspend their accounts. We will implement these regulations soon, this week or next week,” Anreianno said at a press conference on Monday.
The company also will massively campaign to disseminate information to GrabWheels users so that they conform to the new policies, Grab said.
In addition, the firm will add more than 300 parking partners to improve supervision in the field, who will be assigned on crossing bridge areas. This is because, according to reports, many electric scooter users pass through these areas.
“Users must respect public facilities for pedestrians, so electric scooters should only be guided when they want to cross there,” he said.
According to Grab, there are around 1,000 GrabWheels operating in the greater Jakarta, Banten, and Bandung.
Jakarta transport agency official Prapto Priyanto told reporters that the government will complete the draft regulations on personal mobility devices at the end of November, and will implement it next year. He said that e-scooters are only allowed to cross bicycle paths. In future, the government will provide designated paths for personal mobility devices, including e-scooters.