Public transportation companies in Bali are struggling to survive as an increasing number of their potential customers abandon their services for the convenience and flexibility of privately-owned motorbikes and cars.
In the last five years, the number of bemo (public minivans) operated by the companies has shrunken by nearly 60 percent, from 1,003 to 403.
"Balinese residents now prefer riding motorbikes than boarding a bemo," secretary of the Bali chapter of the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda), Yus Suhartana, said recently.
"Motorbikes are more practical and cheaper."
Data from the Bali Transportation Agency shows that only 4 percent of the island's total 3.4 million people currently use public transportation on daily basis.
This is minuscule compared to the 70 percent recorded in the 1970s, when public transportation was the preferred means of transportation among the island's residents.
As the percentage of public transportation users has steadily decreased, the number of privately-owned motorbikes roaming the island's streets has significantly increased.
The agency estimates there are as many as 1.2 million motorbikes and 800,000 cars on the island.
Yus said the design of Bali's public transportation was flawed from the get go and is the main reason behind the sorry state of the services.
"The initial design was plagued by disconnected routes that eventually made public transportation an inconvenient way to travel," he said.
He also pointed his finger at the local administrations for their failure to provide assistances to public transportation companies that serve "quiet course" routes, or those with a low volume of passengers.
"If the administration provides subsidies or incentives to those companies then the companies will be able to continue to serve those routes," he said.
The Bali provincial administration is currently in the initial stage of developing an integrated public transportation system.
The system will connect Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan with provincial capital Denpasar.
The system is known by its acronym Sarbagita.
Head of the Bali Transportation Agency IB Parsa said the system will be introduced in 2010.
"In that year, three routes of public transportation system will be in operational stage," he said.
"The whole system will be completed in 2015 and will have 17 routes."
The system will provide the public with cheap, accessible and dependable public transportation.
The system will also provide private public transportation companies with financial assistance if they serve the "quiet courses".
"I am very optimistic about this new system," Yus Suhartana said.
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