Mas Erwan - Ojek Payung

There aren't many people who want to ride an ojek if it's raining heavily, but fortunately for Erwan, someone wants to be escorted by an umbrella motorcycle taxi!

Hello Mas, why did you decide to become an ojek payung (“Umbrella Taxi”)?

Ya, I’ve been an ojek payung since I was little. When its not raining I work as an online ojek driver, but as long as the rain is like this we don’t get customers, so I wait around Plaza Indonesia and Grand Indonesia with my umbrella.

So why do you decide to wait here?

It’s not far from my house. I live in the kampung behind you, in Kebon Kacang. The umbrellas are left there.

3. Is there a group or community for Ojek Payung in this area, mas?

No there isn’t, but normally there is a queue of local guys who want to be ojek payung, waiting for the umbrellas.

What tariff or fee do you charge for your services?

It depends on the person, you know? If there’s a good person I might get 50 thousand, but there’s also those who only give 5 thousand. On average my income is around 10-20. Normally young kids get much more than adalts, for example if I were to get 20 thousand one of the kids might get 30 or even forty, maybe because they’re cuter than me, right?

So are the profits better than those from working as a driver?

The profit can be good, it can be bad too, but there’s a risk; if we get a good customer, great. If we don’t? Yeah maybe we won’t have any profit at all. We pay rent for the umbrellas, too, normally 15 thousand a day but it depends on the income.

Is there a limit to the area or distance you would take a customer?

Yeah, I mean I only hang out around here, and I never had a customer who wants to go too far. Normally I go with them from the big malls to the parking or the online car pick up point. There are those who want to go further, maybe to Sarinah, but I don’t want to go that far because maybe they still won’t want to give much compensation.

Mas, how do you know if it is going to rain?

Yeah, we would just watch the weather, or maybe there’ll be info from friends who are drivers, or just instagram aja. During the rainy season we’re more ready; the umbrellas are left with some of the traders around here.

Are there pros and cons of this work, mas?

Yes of course. It’s a chance for us to work if there aren’t any online customers, but sometimes we get annoyed because we can’t enter the mall lobbies. We have to wait outside, in the rain, unless we’re already with a customer. When we’re with them we can go in too. I’ve had friends who got sick, who got the flu, because they were already waiting a long time like that, but it never happened to me

Thanks for your time, Mas.

You’re welcome. Hopefully lots of people follow your news, ya.