The simulation carried out on Saturday sought to ensure that the electric bus service during the G20 Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday would run smoothly.

"Today, on Saturday, we also held a coordination meeting led by the transportation minister. We have made a number of preparations and have coordinated for the operational arrangement of electric buses, totaling 41 units of both medium and large buses,” said Transportation Ministry secretary general Novie Riyanto.

Novie said that apart from serving the delegates from the invited countries, the electric buses would also serve the G20 committee and journalists covering G20 activities.

"Electric buses will facilitate movement from one point to another in Bali," he said.

The electric buses will serve different routes. For delegates, the buses will take them on the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) to Apurva Kempinski Bali and Lagoon Field to Apurva Kempinski Bali routes.

For the committee (Sherpa Team), the buses will take them from the Intercontinental Jimbaran to the Apurva, while members of the media will be able to take buses from the Bali International Convention Center to reach the Apurva, GWK and Tahura Mangrove.

For delegates, as many as 12 electric buses will facilitate their movement to the event location, starting at 6:00 a.m to 7:00 am from BNDCC and Lagoon to Apurva, with a waiting time between bus arrivals between 5 and 10 minutes.

Medium-sized electric buses can accommodate as many as 19 people and one driver, while large electric buses have a seating capacity of 50 passengers consisting of 26 seats, 23 standing spaces and one driver.

"In addition, we have prepared electric buses for service from Ngurah Rai Airport to the Nusa Dua area of Bali," Novie added.

The provision of electric buses to support Indonesia’s G20 presidency came from a number of parties, including the Red and White Electric Bus from the Transportation Ministry; the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry; PT INKA and a number of universities,such as the University of Indonesia; PT Indika Energi (Foxtron); PT Tentrem Sejahtera; PT Sinar Armada Globalindo; PT Mobilindo Armada Cemerlang; and PT Mobil Anak Bangsa.

According to data from the State Secretariat, the government has prepared 1,452 electric vehicles to support the mobility of the G20 Summit in Bali which consists of 962 electric cars, 454 electric motorcycles and 36 electric buses, which come from various automotive manufacturers.

Traffic engineering

In addition to the provision of electric buses, the Transportation Ministry will also make traffic engineering arrangements with the Bali Police and the Provincial Transportation Service, carried out through the implementation of the odd-even system as well as restrictions on the operation of freight transport from Sunday to Thursday, from 06:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Based on the results of trials that were carried out from Wednesday to Saturday, road user compliance in areas under an odd-even license plate policy reached 71 percent.

 "We hope that community compliance will increase during the summit, considering that the odd-even policy will come into effect on Sunday," Novie said.

This article was published in collaboration with Transportation Ministry