Public transportation in Bali is expected to improve significantly by 2010 with a massive project set to establish additional routes and cover wider areas, a senior official said Thursday.
The transport network in Bali has long been plagued by limited services and generally poor standards.
Head of Bali's Transportation, Information and Communication Agency IBM. Parsa said the agency was working closely with an expert from the Udayana University to create new routes stretching both long and short distances.
Long routes serve passengers traveling beyond regencies, wwhereas the shorter routes ferry about passengers moving within one regency.
Parsa said the new routes would patch up the flaws of the existing network, deemed by experts as "outdated".
"The current network is not progressing at the same rate as gains being made in other areas of the island administration. We need one year to establish the system and present it to the transportation association," he said.
He said the ailing public transportation network was being further exacerbated by the rapid growth of motorcycle ownership. The vast availability of credit agencies offering low installments for consumer goods' has led to a boom motorcycle numbers on Bali's streets.
Through these agencies, a brand new motorcycle worth more than Rp 10 million can be taken home for a down payment as low as Rp 500,000 (US$41.6).
"The establishment of these additional routes and an increased number of buses does not necessarily guarantee people will leave their vehicles at home, but I am sure it will reduce dependency on them somewhat," Parsa said.
Bali Police traffic division recorded the number of vehicles in Bali had reached 1.8 million by August 2008, 86 percent (1.6 million) of which were motorcycles, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Motorcycles are still the preferred means of transport for locals and foreign tourists because the island's public transportation network has a well-established reputation of being expensive and unreliable, Parsa said.
A one way route from Sanglah Hospital in South Denpasar to Ubung in North Denpasar, for example, costs Rp 5,000 for adults.
Sahabudin, 48, owner of a angkot or bemo transport vehicle, said the business was dying.
To cope with the situation, he and other drivers have stopped covering their one designated route.
"If a customer wants to go anywhere, Java included, and are willing to pay the fare then we will take him there," he told.
He said drivers go to the Denpasar transportation agency and ask for a permit to drive outside their normal route.
"It is getting harder to find passengers while the fuel prices remain high," he said.
Sahabudin said although only three or four passengers boarded his bemo each day, he would drive them along the route from the hospital to Ubung praying more passengers would turn up on the way.
In 1994, the three-wheeled bemo was replaced by a 4-wheeled variation, and they began raking in huge amounts of money, he said. Once cheap deals on motorcycles and low downpayment options became widely available, the number of bemo operators decreased while motorcycles flourished.
"From then on, things became a struggle," said the 48-year-old, who has been driving a bemo for 27 years.
According to data from the transportation agency, Denpasar actually has more than a 1,000 public transport vehicles still available, but only half are still in circulation due to decreasing passengers.
Wayan Mertawan, 54, another driver, said driving a vehicle was his only means of survival.
Even his most loyal customers, junior and senior high school students, have gradually abandoned his service for the freedom and speed offered by their motorcycles.
Kadek Sudiari said her husband gave up his job as a public transport driver because he was not earning enough to support their needs. After he found work in an electronics store, her family could afford a motorcycle.
"Although the motorcycle's monthly installment is pricey for us, we still prefer having it than traveling by a public vehicle because the total cost is lower," she said.
