Sarbagita feeder bus needs back-up

The full commitment of the Denpasar city administration and those of surrounding regencies Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan were indispensable to improve the feeder-shuttle services of the island’s newly developed Trans Sarbagita bus rapid transit system, head of Badung transportation agency I Made Sutama told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

“We understand funding [the feeder system] may be a challenge. As our regency is a tourism hotspot, we realize public transportation is crucial, especially to help reduce traffic congestion. Thus, we shouldn’t think of the bottom line when operating this system. I believe full commitment is the key to making it work,” he said.

Since being launched as the first of Sarbagita’s 17 main routes, the 34-kilometer Batubulan–Nusa Dua route has yet to be supported by adequate feeder shuttle services. So far, only three feeder-shuttle routes are officially in operation. These include the 21-kilometer long feeder route from Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) Cultural Park in Jimbaran to the Island’s southern tourism destination Uluwatu, which shuttles to Sarbagita’s Kedonganan bus-stop, and the 18-kilometer GWK to Tanjung Benoa route, which shuttles to the Bualu bus stop. Both routes which have 14 shuttles, each with a capacity of nine passengers, are operated by the Badung regency, in which Uluwatu and Tanjung Benoa are located.

Another feeder route is available at Sarbagita’s Sentral Parkir Kuta bus stop and connects the Tegal bus terminal and Ngurah Rai International Airport, a distance of about 14 kilometers. Bali’s provincial administration operates six shuttle units on this route. So far, Badung is the only regency-level administration that has initiated a feeder shuttle service to support the Sarbagita main route. Denpasar, as the island’s capital and most populous city, has yet to launch its Sarbagita shuttle services.

The city is currently home to 1,012 public minibuses, known as bemo, most of which are in poor condition and provide uncertain fares, schedules and routes. “They are privately operated by individuals. Thus, it’s difficult to regulate them,” head of the technical division of Sarbagita operator agency Krisdiyanto told the Post. He highlighted the urgency of the city administration taking charge by establishing regular schedules, routes and fares and refurbishing the vehicles.

Krisdiyanto pointed out there were at least five inner-city shuttle routes — from Kreneng terminal to Padang Galak, Sanur Beach, and Semawang and from Tegal terminal to Semawang and Serangan — that Denpasar needed to revive soon. “The city should take charge by purchasing these routes, by covering the operational costs, while treating the passenger fares as city revenue. We are now trying to convince the city that the revenue may [partly] support the service’s operating costs,” urged Krisdiyanto, citing Rp 1.5 billion in revenue this year.

Against this is Sarbagita’s Rp 3 billion estimated cost of operating the Batubulan–Nusa Dua and the soon-to-be-launched downtown Denpasar–Udayana University–GWK route. During its first 4.5 months operation last year, the Batubulan–Nusa Dua route brought in some Rp 600 million (US$66,600) of revenue while costing Rp 1.6 billion to operate.

Acknowledging the urgency of providing feeder shuttles downtown for the Sarbagita, head of the Denpasar transportation agency I Gede Astika nonetheless said discussions about the feeder shuttle plan were still ongoing. “Hopefully, the planning review will be complete soon so that we can allocate the required funding in the 2012 revised city budget,” said Astika.

Head of Trans Sarbagita agency Ida Bagus Parsa predicted that by 2016, more than 50 percent of the Sarbagita system, which includes 17 main corridors and 36 planned shuttle services, would be running.