Kenapa Saya Suka Pakai Uber

Ketika Uber pertama kali beroperasi secara resmi di
Jakarta bulan Agustus 2014, saya dan suami diundang ke pesta peluncurannya di
The Plaza, Thamrin. Sebagai undangan, kami dijemput dan diantar pulang gratis
menggunakan armada yang disediakan Uber melalui aplikasinya. Karena waktu itu
baru ada Uber Black, jadi kami diantar jemput pakai mobil2 sedan mewah seperti
Mercedes E-Class dan Camry. Sejak merasakan kemudahannya, kami jadi ketagihan
pakai Uber :D

Belum tau apa itu Uber? Uber adalah
perusahaan rintisan dan perusahaan jaringan transportasi asal San Francisco,
California, yang menciptakan aplikasi bergerak yang menghubungkan penumpang
dengan sopir kendaraan sewaan serta layanan tumpangan. Saat ini Uber
sudah beroperasi di 67 negara.

Belum tau juga gimana
cara pakai Uber? Baca lengkapnya di sini yaa. Jangan
lupa masukin kode promo NUNIEKT untuk dapetin kredit 75ribu! :D

Nah, kenapa saya suka banget pakai Uber?
Berikut ini alasan utamanya.

1. Hemat & efisien
Dulu saya dan suami selalu menggunakan jasa sopir pribadi yang digaji sesuai
standar UMR setiap bulannya. Itu di luar uang lembur dan uang makan harian.
Sejak ada Uber, saya jarang minta dia antar jemput saya karena lebih efisien
pakai Uber. Begitu ia berhenti kerja, kami malah bersyukur dan tidak mencari
penggantinya. Jadi kami hemat banyak banget setidaknya 3jutaan sebulan untuk
sopir, hemat bensin dan uang parkir pula. Plus, nggak perlu pusing kalau sopir
nggak masuk karena sakit atau kalau istrinya minta pinjaman uang. Hassle free
and no more drama!

2. Cashless, Praktis!
Enaknya pakai Uber itu, kita nggak perlu bayar pakai uang tunai dan nggak perlu bawa kartu kredit secara fisik. Jadi buat saya
yang sering ketinggalan dompet ini, Uber sering jadi penyelamat karena saya
tetap bisa ke mana-mana naik Uber. Beberapa kali ke luar negeri seperti
Malaysia dan Singapura, kami nggak perlu tukar uang karena selalu naik Uber dan
pakai kartu kredit untuk makan. Bahkan waktu mau bayar belanjaan sepatu di
Clark Quay Singapura minggu lalu, saya dan suami baru sadar ketinggalan dompet
di Sofitel Sentosa tempat kami menginap! Jadi kami bisa sampai sana itu ya
karena Uber, dan pulangnya lagi-lagi diselamatkan oleh Uber :)

3. Aman
Sebelum ada Uber, suami hanya merekomendasikan saya naik taksi biru untuk
alasan keamanan. Tapi aplikasi taksi biru tidak secanggih Uber dalam banyak
hal. Salah satunya, dengan Uber saya bisa share ke suami rute perjalanan saya,
jadi dia bisa cek secara real time saya sudah sampai mana, dan jam berapa
kira-kira sampainya. Setahun lebih pengalaman saya naik Uber, belum pernah
sekalipun ada kasus keamanan (dan semoga jangan pernah ya!). And you know what?
Setiap sopir dan maksimal 3 penumpang Uber dilindungi oleh asuransi.

4. Nyaman
Karena armada Uber-X adalah mobil non-taksi, jadi ya serasa naik mobil pribadi.
Bayangin, bisa gonta ganti mobil dan sopir tiap hari dengan ongkos yang lebih
murah dari taksi :D Bahkan di beberapa mobil yang saya tumpangi disediakan
permen dan air mineral gratis. Malah ada yang sampai menyediakan charger segala
:)) Enaknya lagi, kebanyakan mobilnya adalah 7 seater, jadi nggak masalah kalau
naik serombongan :D

5. Selalu ada cerita baru
Setiap naik Uber saya suka ajak ngobrol pengemudinya, dan selalu menemukan cerita
baru soal latar belakang dan pekerjaan mereka sebelumnya. Ada yang memang
dulunya berprofesi sebagai sopir, ada yang masih mahasiswa, ada yang kerja
sambilan sebelum/sesudah pulang kantor, ada yang pensiunan, ada yang ibu rumah
tangga, ada yang agen properti, bahkan ada yang tadinya sudah bos di suatu
perusahaan tapi karena tidak mau dimutasi jadi banting setir join Uber sambil
isi waktu. Kadang saya bagikan cerita2 ini di sosial media saya dengan hashtag
#uberstory .

Saking seringnya naik
Uber dan share di sosial media, banyak teman-teman yang bertanya ke saya soal
Uber. Sampai ada beberapa yang bilang saya pantas jadi Uber ambassador,
hahaha… Pro kontra pasti ada, namanya juga inovasi baru yang membawa
perubahan. Soal itu biarlah dari pihak Uber saja yang resmi mengklarifikasi,
saya hanya ulas dari sisi pengguna saja. Yang jelas, buat saya Uber sangat
membantu saya dalam hal mobilitas dan membantu mengurai kemacetan (karena 1 mobil pribadi untuk kepentingan 1 orang, sedangkan 1 mobil Uber bisa untuk kepentingan belasan orang.

The Waiting Room of Life

There are few things in life that test our character more than waiting. Not the kind of waiting where you’re stuck in traffic with your favorite playlist on, but the heavy kind; waiting without certainty. The waiting that weighs on you because you don’t know if it will end tomorrow, next month, or next year. I’ve been thinking a lot about this today because something big just wrapped up. A long-awaited promise was finally fulfilled. And in the process, I witnessed firsthand how differently people behave when placed in the uncomfortable chair of “ the waiting room of life. ” Imagine a waiting room where everyone has been told their name will be called someday, maybe soon, maybe late. You’d see at least two kinds of people. Some people sit quietly, open a book, maybe start a new project on the side while glancing occasionally at the clock. They don’t need to narrate their suffering to the entire room. They choose dignity over drama. They know that patience doesn’t have to be ...

What I Learned from Timothy Tiah - Founder of Nuffnang

Last Sunday when I entered VIP room at JWEF , I was introduced to this guy with his mini version boy on his lap, and his pretty wife with white top and red skirt. We had chit chat and he told me he’d be in Jakarta this Tuesday, and I told him that we’d have 57th #Startuplokal Monthly Meetup on Tuesday night. To be really honest, only a very few did I know about him until he shared his amazing story on JWEF stage a few minutes later, and get inspired that I took note and now share this with you all. Timothy Tiah founded Nuffnang with Cheo Ming Shen at 2006 when he was 22 years old, with 150k RM startup capital, partly borrowed from his father. He simply founded it because there’s nobody built it before, while the demand was actually there. The site was launched in February 2007. Sales ≠ cashflow On earlier years, although Nuffnang sales highrocketed, the cashflow was poor. At one point he only has 5k left in bank, while there were invoices need to be paid out urgently. He came to Hon...

Waiting and Celebrating

This morning was wonderfully slow, the kind of slow where time doesn’t feel wasted but savored. Everyone in the house had their own lazy rhythm. No alarms, no rush, just soft hours unfolding. By two in the afternoon, we finally left for Pondok Gede to check our first house. We had it lightly renovated: The old, tired canopy was taken down, so the two-story house could breathe and look elegant again. The walls and fence got a fresh coat of white paint, giving it that “new beginnings” look. The cracked tiles were replaced, no more tripping hazards waiting for unsuspecting guests. The windows were repainted, catching a bit of shine when the sun hits. House for sell or rent, near Mall Pondok Gede. Contact here. Now it’s neat, clean, and... how do I say this... ready to meet its "jodoh". Although we don’t know yet if the match is a buyer or a tenant. Should we sell it? Should we rent it out? We don’t have the answer yet. And for someone like me, uncertainty is both fascinating a...

Going Home with a 270 Million Bill and a Prayer

Thursday, August 21, 2025 This is it! The day I finally got discharged after 10 nights in the hospital. After surviving ESWL for kidney stones + laparoscopy for appendix + mini laparotomy for myom and uterus removal. In the morning, Dr. Eko came by with the golden ticket: “You can go home today.” And previously, Dr. Ong team also said the same. Finally! I’d been waiting for that sentence like a kid waiting for recess. Of course, it’s never as simple as “the doctor said I can go home.” Nope. There’s a whole backstage performance involving the nurses, admin, pharmacy, and let’s not forget the insurance company. Meanwhile, my husband was busy running back and forth between the hospital room and the car, carrying bags, while I reminded him, “Don’t forget to buy bread for the nurses and staff.” Doctor on duty replaced the dressing on my laparoscopy wounds, but left the laparotomy one alone. Too wet, too risky. I didn’t even argue, I’m just glad someone else was brave enough to de...

Less Fighting, More Understanding

Sunday mornings have this magical way of stretching out slowly, like they don’t want to end. This morning was one of those slow mornings, the kind where the house hums gently, everyone moves at their own pace, and there’s no rush to do anything other than exist. We had plans to go to church, but of course, life had its own little lesson in patience: the War Ticket frenzy. Thousands of people rushing online just to get a spot for worship every week; it’s kind of insane when you think about it. Praise the Lord indeed for the technology that lets us all battle for our pews without elbowing anyone physically. After church, we went for a late lunch, and that’s when I discovered MOKKA tucked away in a corner of the mall. I’ve walked past this mall so many times, but I never noticed it before. It’s funny how sometimes good things are hiding in plain sight, waiting for someone else to point them out. The restaurant was quiet compared to the line at Lekko just down the hall. And while MOKKA’s f...

Cold and Bold

Saturday, 16 August 2025, past midnight “Bu, bu, operasinya sudah selesai ya Bu.” “Dingin… dingin…” Those were the first words that came out of my mouth when I woke up from surgery. Not exactly poetic, but hey, when you’ve just survived laparoscopy and hysterectomy-laparotomy in one go, you don’t wake up quoting Shakespeare. You wake up asking for blankets. I remember shivering, my teeth chattering, my body completely confused about what just happened. The nurses rushed to wrap me in layers, and I drifted in and out of consciousness, half-aware that my life had just been handed back to me, stitched and stapled and sewn together. And honestly, that’s the thing about life, isn’t it? We often imagine survival arriving in big, cinematic ways. Dramatic music, bright lights, maybe even a slow clap. In reality, sometimes it shows up with a shaky whisper: “dingin… dingin…” The doctors told my husband it was quite long, delicate surgery. My appendix alone took nearly an hour, and removing my my...

Staycation, Wedding Edition

Sometimes the best kind of joy doesn’t come from running away. It comes from choosing to be fully present somewhere new, even if it’s still in your own city. Some weekends don’t just rest your body; they quietly reset your spirit too. Saturday, October 4, 2025. The day I’d been waiting for finally arrived: staycation day with my husband! It had been ages since our last one. Unless you count that time I stayed overnight at the hospital (which I don’t, thank you very much). This time, we had a much better reason: a wedding. Since the venue was quite far from home, we figured, why not make a little weekend out of it? After finishing some work and a blog post (because apparently, I can’t truly rest without typing something first), we headed out at noon to... drumroll... PIK 2. Predictably, it was scorching. The kind of heat that makes you question all your life choices. But honestly, I’d missed the seaside vibe too much to complain, fake or not. We parked at The Land’s End, and after walki...

Stomach Peace and Birthday Plots

Thursday, 04 September 2025 New achievement unlocked: my stomach behaved today! I mean, zero drama. No bloating, no extra gas, no rushing back and forth to the toilet like I’m training for the 100-meter dash. Just one smooth, dignified bathroom trip. My digestive system is finally acting like a responsible adult. And the secret? My self-imposed “no onion, no Yakult, no chia seeds” rule. Harsh? Maybe. Effective? Apparently yes. Though honestly, I still don’t know which of those three sneaky culprits is the real villain in my stomach saga. Is it the onions that I used to love in every dish? The supposedly good-for-you Yakult? Or those chia seeds that look harmless but might secretly be plotting against me? Who knows. All I care about is: today, I am free. Two days now without painkillers. Sure, I still have a small stash of them from the doctor, but they’re staying in the drawer like an emergency-only squad. (Hopefully never needed again.) It feels like I’ve passed a level in some strang...

Stone-Free, Heart-Full

Last night I slept like a baby at the hospital. Woke up feeling fresh, and no toilet struggles this morning. First win of the day! Around 7 a.m., I emerged from the bathroom to find my mom and my in-laws already there. They’d left their house at 5:30 a.m., picked up my mom on the way, and arrived bright and early. Today’s main event was ESWL treatment to blast my kidney stones into dust. It was supposed to happen at 8 a.m., then moved to 9 a.m., and finally got pushed to 11 a.m. because my doctor had another procedure. Which meant the parents had been there for hours, and I got to nap on and off like a cat waiting for dinner. But maybe that delay was divine scheduling. Just minutes before the nurse came to take me in, my pastor arrived to pray for me in person. He drove 40–50 kilometers to be there. That’s not just kind, it’s humbling. Thank you, Pak Pendeta. And earlier, another “pastor” (in quotes because she’s actually my friend Detha) prayed for me over the phone. Add in the ...

Not Winning, Still Blooming

Every year, my husband and I get invited to the BCA Wealth Summit at the Grand Ballroom Kempinski, Jakarta. Same venue, same buzz, same format, even the same familiar faces. One of them is Ko Michael, who insists on not being called “Pak” because it sounds too old, hehe. It’s always nice to catch up with him, exchanging updates on investments, startups, and the comfort of knowing we’re still orbiting in the same world. With ko Michael the owner of King Foto Indonesia at BCA Wealth Summit One of the things that always makes the Summit worthwhile are the sessions that stretch my mind. Mari Elka Pangestu, Vice Chairwoman of the National Economic Council, talked about The New Trade Paradigm and Its Implications to Indonesia . One line stayed with me: in a world shifting from globalization to regional blocs, Indonesia needs to think less like a passive participant and more like a proactive designer of its role. It reminded me that wealth is not just about assets,...

The Diary of a CEO's Wife

Search This Blog