The Bali Provincial Government has received ten electric buses from the South Korean Ministry of Environment.
The new zero-emission buses, delivered to Bali as part of a grant, will help Bali promote more sustainable travel in the region.
The Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, formally received the first of fleet of new buses on Thursday 10th April. He met with the South Korean Deputy Environmental Minister, Lee Byung-hwa, who presented Governor Koster with a brand new 12-meter electric bus. However, there will be a little wait before the rest of the fleet is delivered.
Governor Koster told reporters “What we requested were 8 metre long buses, and smaller in size to suit the conditions on the roads in Bali. It is estimated that it will only be completed in the next 7-8 months so it might be possible in early 2026.”
He continued “Bali is seen as a province that implements environmentally friendly policies and what is being seen is that we’ve issued the Bali Governor Regulation Number 45 of 2019 concerning Bali clean energy and Bali Governor Regulation Number 48 of 2019 concerning the use of battering based electric motor vehicles.”
Governor Koster confirmed that the full fleet will be colored red, white, and black, and are worth IDR 75 billion. Included in the grant South Korea has also provided the specialist charging equipment required to keep the buses up and running.
The Bali Provincial Government confirmed that the new bus routes using the electric buses will be finalized soon, but that initial route maps have been drawn up to connect Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, and Tabanan. The routes will be sure to connect key tourist hotspots in these areas as well as school and university campuses.
This new bus service operated by the ten buses funded by South Korea will come in addition to new public transport services being offered around the island, ranging from free shuttle bus services to ocean taxi routes. Just last month the Mayor of Denpasar, IGN Jaya Negara, confirmed that the Denpasar City Government will soon launch a new free shuttle bus service around the popular resort of Sanur.
He told reporters “The Mayor of Denpasar has committed to reduce traffic congestion in Sanur with shuttles while caring for the environment by implementing low carbon emission vehicles, namely electric vehicles as a support for the Sanur Tourism Area for the Low Emission Zone.”
The free service will run every 10 minutes throughout key points in Sanur, and act as a feeder bus service to the TransDewata Metro Service when it is up and running again next month.
Governor Koster noted that bus fares for the new service would be kept as low as possible and affirmed his commitment to bringing good and cheap public transportation to Bali. The Governor himself uses an all-electric fleet of vehicles for official business.
He noted that a round trip from his offices in Denpasar to Buleleng Regency in Northwest Bali would cost IDR 600,000 in a fossil fuel-powered car, but his electric car only costs IDR 131,000.
While the new electric bus service may take another 7-8 months to come into effect in Bali, as early as June, tourists could be hopping onto fast boat services to help navigate the island’s traffic congestion in novel ways.
Earlier this week the Governor of East Java Khofifah Indar Parawansa confirmed that a new fast boat service connecting tourists and residents between Serangan in Denpasar and Banyuwnagi in East Java will be up and running by the middle of the year.
The journey by road from Denpasar to Banyuwangi is notoriously congested with traffic consistently bad along the Gilimanuk-Denpasar Highway. Governor Parawansa has confirmed that the new fast boat service will make it more affordable and more efficient than ever for tourists to travel between Denpasar and East Java.
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Steve bm
Monday 14th of April 2025
Unless it has frequent stops no one can walk half a kilometre to their own final destination in bali.yes should be free for all I mean lokal government want vehicles of the streets but the target people must be people without transport. It will create more build ups in allready kaos areas all areas. Positive is its a free gift
WAYAN BO
Sunday 13th of April 2025
Hopefully they don’t want it back since today’s subway tragedy in Seoul.
Shorty
Sunday 13th of April 2025
It's a great gift from South Korea. But the success is dependant on people using them. Obviously routes, scheduling....will be of primary importance The focus should be on local people using them, not tourists. The buses are being given free, and have low operating costs. Why not have no fares. Make them free.
WAYAN BO
Sunday 13th of April 2025
Hopefully solar electric power plant soon as a gift too 🤣
Exp
Sunday 13th of April 2025
If they aim for the buses to be used by locals then this effort will not pay for itself as locals would not want to pay more than a gojek fare like 5-10k.
And for a bus route to be of any use in tourist zones it must be on a frequent schedule lets say every 20 min or so. 10 buses will therefore do little.
This effort is on par with the traffic police driving around in a Hyundai Ionic that cost 700 juta. Surely that is also a "goodwill gift".