Motorcycle and Car-Based Ridehailing in the Different Income Group: The Adoption and Frequency in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

In the Western setting, ride-hailing has been widely accepted as a car-based (C-RH) on-demand transportation service over the last decade. However, due to a high share of private motorcycle ownership, motorcycle-based ride-hailing (MC-RH) in South-East Asia, including Indonesia, has become more popular than C-RH. In this study, we examine different income groups, middle-high and low-income communities, to identify differences in the use of ride-hailing across both population segments. This paper investigates the adoption and frequency of use for motorcycle and car-based ride-hailing in the Indonesian context, including the interaction among both transport services. We analyzed primary data that was collected in the Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia using binary logit and random effect ordered logit panel models, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that the lower-income group is less likely to use ride-hailing services, if they do, it will be at lower frequency compared with the middle-high-income group. In general, our results indicates that adopters are more often women, young people, tech-savvy, and living in urban area. Based on the frequency ride-hailing use, MC-RH and C-RH were found to have a complementary relationship. However, the use of MC-RH is higher than C-RH among both communities. This study also confirms that ride-hailing is not widely used by lower income groups. However, the MC-RH is more accessible for low-income group to reach poor-access and suburban area. Policy recommendations to alleviate transport disadvantage and improve social equity are proposed.