Bird Mumblings (鳥話)

While checking Singapore media websites for updates on the National Day Rally the other day, Jeremiah came across this syndicated Jakarta Post article on the Blue Bird taxi service in Jakarta.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/26/%E2%80%98joe-le-taxi%E2%80%99-inside-blue-bird-group.html

Blue Bird is generally considered one of the most reliable taxi companies in Indonesia.  They are present in almost every big Indonesian city, such as Jakarta, Denpasar, Surabaya, Semarang etc.  The article begins with fradulent Bluebird taxis in Jakarta, and then moves on to the granddaughter of the founder's comments on how Bluebird started.

“The company [started] in our house,” [the granddaughter of the founder] recounted, “it was very, very close. The drivers would eat with us every night…Nowadays, with 24,000 drivers across Indonesia, it’s a bit difficult for us to sit all around one table! But we still have an open house day once a year …where myself and my mother serve the drivers. It’s a time for everyone to eat together. The family values are still there.”

The article then continues as follows:

In theory, at least, Blue Bird is impressive, and has been commended for this — this year it was the proud recipient of the 2010 IMAC (Indonesia’s Most Admired Company) award. But, in practice, there’s a different story.

Many consider Express taxis to be more clued-up to street names and addresses, with one customer commenting that Blue Bird’s “biggest problem is with the drivers’ road knowledge. 

Yesterday, what should have been a 5-minute journey took one full hour of going up and down the same street to find the address.”


Having taken Blue Birds and other companies' taxis a few times, Jeremiah must say that the article is right on the dot.  Undoubtedly, the Blue Bird spirit and its modern fleet is what sets the company aside from its competitors.  Bird Bird taxis are generally modern and well-maintained, and its drivers polite.  But at the same time, Bird Bird seemed to have expanded too rapidly.  Quite a few Blue Bird drivers that Jeremiah encountered were very young, poorly trained and did not even know key landmarks in Indonesia.

The moral of the story: Companies in the service industry must focus on its service standards too.  Growth and cheap labour are not everything.  Chasing growth at the expense of other priorities could potentially damage one's reputation, the spirit that made one strong, and be detrimental over the long run.