Taxicabs By Country - Indonesia

Indonesia

Taxicabs began to be popular in Jakarta from the early 1970s with cars such as the Datsun 220C, Holden Torana, and Toyota Corona. Smaller cars, for example the Toyota Corolla, and various types of Datsun, were also used from mid-1970s to late 1980s.

In the 1970s, taxicabs were in various colors, although at that time mostly yellow, and a major operator ran light blue taxicabs. The main vehicle replacement for most taxicab operators was in mid-1980s when they replaced their old fleet with Nissan Stanza 1.6 T11. With the exception of the popular light blue, all other operators had their Stanzas painted yellow.

Due to poor sales in the private car market, but good fuel economy and reliability, Holden Gemini diesel cars were used as taxicabs during the 1980s. The same happened to Nissan Sunnys and Ford Lasers from the late 1980s to late 1990s.

Since the color of most reliable taxicab company in Jakarta is medium blue metallic (previously light blue), few other operators copied their color, and even the shape of the roof sign. This could mislead someone when hail the taxicab on the street. Although most taxicabs are blue, there are also painted in any color depends on the operators.

The new taxicabs in Jakarta are mostly Toyota Limo, which is a lower spec of Toyota Vios. Before the introduction of Limo in 2004, the most popular taxi was Toyota Soluna, which based on the 1995 Toyota Tercel. Currently many Solunas are still in operation alongside the Limo. However, the use of subcompact cars in normal taxicabs will stop, and will be used for cheaper taxicabs. Other cars also used as taxicabs are Hyundai Excel, and Kia Rio. Only one operator runs the Nissan Sunny 1.6 Neo.

There are also executive taxicabs; these are black Nissan Cedric Y31 and Toyota Crown Comfort, and recently a W203 Mercedes-Benz C-Class, a W211 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, a Toyota Alphard and a Hyundai Sonata.

With the launch of new Toyota Limo NCP93 in 2007, three generations of Toyota's small sedan are used for taxicab services in Indonesia. However, in the executive taxicab segment, only few Toyota Crown Comfort. In 2007, the executive fleet swa the arrival of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, followed by the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the Toyota Alphard in 2009. An executive taxicab operator has added the Volkswagen Caravelle to its fleet, and soon the Hyundai Starex.