Bali and other cities in Indonesia have either ceased or reduced their transportation services due to a lack of funding from central and local governments.
he beginning of 2025 marked an end or temporary halt to public transportation services in several regions, including Bali and Yogyakarta, due to lack of funding from both central and regional governments.
Bali’s Trans Metro Dewata (TMD) bus service announced on New Year’s Day that it had ceased operations because the Buy The Service (BTS) subsidy fund from the Transportation Ministry, which had kept it running since September 2020 at an estimated Rp 90 billion (US$5.51 million) annually, had dried up.
The Bali Transportation Agency was negotiating with the ministry to resume the subsidy program for TMD, as the provincial administration had not allocated a sufficient budget to cover its operating cost this year, Tirto.id reported.
The closure sparked public outcry and a petition demanding TMS to resume its services that had gathered over 19,000 signatures as of Jan. 15.
Read also: Bali to get autonomous transit system to ease congestion: Minister
Ngurah Termana, a researcher at the World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that TMD’s closure would exacerbate traffic conditions in Bali and fuel greater reliance on private vehicles. Currently, 95 percent of public mobility in the province relied on private vehicles, he said.
Bali saw severe traffic congestion in 2023 and a spate of viral videos showing tourists abandoning their taxis and wheeling their suitcases to Ngurah Rai airport, which many blamed due to a lack of public transit. A private group is set to build the island province’s first light rail transit (LRT), aiming for an operating date in 2028.
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