Bali’s most utilized public bus service, the Trans Metro Dewata, has been suspended indefinitely as operational funding has been withdrawn.
According to the 2025 State Budget, Bali’s Trans Metro Dewata bus service will no longer receive subsidies, and as such, the service is now on hold.
Leaders in Bali are scrambling to find a solution to help fund the vital public bus service again as soon as possible.
Speaking to reporters, the Head of the Bali Transportation Office, Gde Wayan Samsi Gunarta, said that the Bali Provincial Government is committed to bringing back the six Trans Metro Dewata public bus services in time by adjusting to the regional fiscal capacity.
Gunarta explained that the Bali Provincial Government has budgeted for the operation of services for one route in the 2025 Bali Provincial Budget.
Gunarta said, “The Bali Provincial Government is negotiating so that the Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia can still provide allocation for the Trans Metro Dewata service in synergy with the Regency/City Government to ensure the availability of quality public transportation services in the Bali province in the future.”
“The termination of the budget for this service is entirely the policy of the Ministry of Transportation.”
He concluded, “Bali is a region where most of the area is within the national strategic area. In this kind of area, support from various parties is needed to be involved in the fulfillment of transportation services, whether the central government, province, district/city.”
Speaking separately the Operational Manager of Trans Metro Dewata Ida Bagus Eka Budi shared his hopes that all six service routes would be operating again sooner rather than later.
He noted, “Hopefully temporary. Tomorrow in Ubung, the leadership will brief all employees and provide information on Teman Bus services to the community.”
Rai Ridartha from the Bali branch of the Indonesian Transportation Society told reporters that he and his team felt that all five of the local and regional governments impacted by the loss of the six bus routes should come together to subsidize the operation.
He explained, “Now there are five governments served by Trans Metro Dewata, the province and the four of Sabargita (Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, Tabanan), the hope is that these five local governments will sit together and contribute how much to provide this service.”
Data shared by Ridartha shows that the program costs IDR 80 billion to operate annually, and 10,000 people have already signed a petition to get the bus service up and running again as one of the few public transport options in central Bali the Trans Metro Dewata Bus service is a lifeline to thousands of local residents, especially students and hospitality staff.
Ridartha explained, “If it’s divided into five, it’s IDR 16 billion per regional government; this can work; our message, especially for Badung, is that the fiscal is strong, please serve the Badung region, so that the burden on other regencies and cities whose income is not as big as Badung can be lighter.”
Badung Regency is considered to be one of Bali’s wealthiest regencies since it is home to the majority of the island’s biggest vacation resorts, including Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Canggu, and Uluwatu.
He concluded by calling for the central government to step in and resolve the issue quickly to give the regional governments a chance to re-organize and take over.
Ridartha stated, “Hopefully, if the central government finances the mechanism, it can be faster than the regional government because it only needs to be connected; if from the regional government, I think it will take a long time, but there must be a commitment.”
The Head of the Trans Metro Dewata Bus Operation, I Ketut Edi Dharmaputra, told reporters on Thursday, 2nd January, “Intense communication has been carried out; it seems that the Acting Governor of Bali is very welcoming, that’s why he wrote to the Ministry of Transport, and the elected Governor Mr Koster also seems to support his statement, Trans Metro Dewata needs to be maintained.”
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Shorty
Monday 6th of January 2025
It doesn't make sense to prop up and subsidise this underutilised, money losing bus service. But it needs to be replaced by more efficient and more acceptable.
Previously bemos did a great job.
Why not look at replacing the large buses with licenced smaller bemos, travelling on scheduled timetables. Use only one vehicle brand and model, all the same livery and drivers in uniform. Pick up and drop only at clearly marked designated stops. Fixed fares.
ganivet
Saturday 4th of January 2025
I used to use the ghost buses to get to the Bali Mall Galeria. Since you can only cross the Dewa Ruci if you want to commit suicide, I took the bus from the stop opposite the BMG to Nusa Dua for about half an hour and then took the same bus back from Nusa Dua to get off at the stop directly at the BMG without crossing the four lanes of the Dewa Ruci, which I would never have been able to do as an old man. There was no timetable at any of the stops, the buses ran at random, sometimes you had to wait 1 hour, other times 3 buses came one right after the other, all empty of course. The bus stops were also a joke, which you had to climb up on a sloping surface and which were in a pitiful state. If experts had been brought in from neighboring Asian countries, the local bus service could have been a success story, but the Balinese authorities had to reinvent the wheel, as they always do when it comes to things that are commonplace in other countries. Even in everyday traffic, buses have never had privileges over other road users. It's a shame that it has come to this, but it was foreseeable.
Rina
Saturday 4th of January 2025
welcoming train by deleting bus while the train is not ready yet. a joke?
Jame Bond
Saturday 4th of January 2025
These busses should have been stopped long time ago. What a waste of money. They were always either empty or max 10% occupied at any given time.
Exp
Friday 3rd of January 2025
Record high tourist arrivals but no funds for bus service?
But there are apparently funds so far to vandalize Uluwatu cliffs.
I said this many times, nothing gets done here unless funds comes from central Gov. in Jakarta or foreign countries like Japan and China. I wonder why.