Environmental Justice in the Enforcement of Ride-Hailing Regulations: Transforming Informal Taxi Services Toward Low-Emission Urban Mobility

Abstract

The development of application-based transportation platforms (ride-hailing) in Indonesia has significantly transformed urban mobility. However, the registration process for platform driver-partners remains largely administrative and does not involve standardized physical vehicle inspections, creating a category of “illegal taxis,” namely, officially registered vehicles that may not comply with statutory operational and emission standards. This study analyzes this issue from an environmental justice perspective and evaluates whether transportation law enforcement is aligned with Indonesia’s commitment to achieving Net Zero Emissions by 2060. The study employs normative juridical and socio-legal methods using statutory, conceptual, and case approaches. The findings indicate that the absence of physical vehicle inspections produces three dimensions of environmental injustice: distributive injustice, because environmental and health costs are borne by the public; procedural injustice, due to unequal regulatory burdens between licensed transportation operators and platform partners; and recognition injustice, because vulnerable groups face greater risks of transport poverty. Law Number 22 of 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation, Minister of Transportation Regulation Number 118 of 2018, Presidential Regulation Number 55 of 2019, and Presidential Regulation Number 79 of 2023 incorporate emission standards into vehicle roadworthiness requirements, but their implementation remains ineffective. This study proposes a transformative legal paradigm integrating legal certainty, environmental protection, and just transition principles so that law enforcement against illegal transportation supports responsible, safe, and sustainable urban mobility.