The Social Impact of Ride-Hailing Technologies: The Experience of Passengers and Drivers in Jakarta

Ride-hailing technologies such as Uber, Grab and GoJek have offered new solutions to commuters in Southeast Asia, including megacities such as Jakarta. Beyond the economic and commercial implications of these platform technologies, it is timely to empirically explore their social impacts as well. In this paper, we use triangulated qualitative methods such as interviews and direct participation to understand the impact of these technologies on the daily life of users such as drivers and passengers. We find that drivers and passengers enjoy many advantages ranging from superior functionality to improved socio-economic welfare. However, the drivers and users interact with the technology in ways that negatively affect the other. Both groups face challenges from technological issues, platform algorithms, and broader social realities. Aside from their empirical value, these findings can inform policies on how to socially integrate ride-hailing technologies in ways that best serve the social good.