Gojek has introduced GoRide and GoCar Protect+, a paid tier of its ride-hailing service that adds a set of hygiene measures to a journey. The Indonesian company says every driver on a Protect+ order has been vaccinated, has their temperature checked and disinfects the vehicle, and that cars carry a protective partition and an air purifier, while motorbike riders are offered a visor extension for their helmet. The tier was to start at the end of September.

The figures are the company's own. Gojek says the air purifier fitted to Protect+ cars disables 91.3 per cent of airborne COVID-19 within 30 seconds, and that it had installed 8,000 purifiers in the Jabodetabek area around Jakarta, with more cities to follow. It says drivers on the tier can earn up to 10 per cent more per order, and that customers reach it through the latest version of the app, with a promotional discount code offered at launch.

Hygiene sold as a product, and who pays

What Gojek has done is turn a safety protocol into something a customer chooses and pays for, rather than a baseline applied to every trip. That is a way to fund extra equipment without carrying the whole cost itself, and it makes the driver a partner in the upgrade instead of its expense. Gojek's global head of marketing, Amanda Parikesit, says the aim is to reduce customers' anxiety about travelling and to support drivers' income.

The open question is what happens to a hygiene tier as the pandemic recedes. A feature that depends on fear of infection is hard to keep selling once that fear fades, and a service that covers only some cars can also read as a warning about the rest. Whether Protect+ becomes a lasting upgrade or a pandemic artefact is not something the launch can settle, and neither is whether the extra cost, once the discount code expires, is one riders will keep paying.