Bali’s Provincial Transportation Department will soon issue a circular regulating the use of vehicles with non-Bali license plates (non-DK). The department’s head, I Gede Wayan Samsi Gunarta, stated that this decision was driven by the increasing number of vehicles from other regions and complaints from local residents, who believe that outsiders are taking away their jobs.
“We will issue a circular to clarify this regulation. The rules have been in place for a long time, but the penalties have been vague and difficult to enforce. This time, we will add more specific details,” he said.
According to Bali Provincial Regulation No. 4 of 2016, the governor has the authority to regulate traffic flow. The regulation requires vehicles that operate in Bali for more than three months to be registered locally. However, in practice, many newcomers use their vehicles for work without changing their plates to Bali’s DK registration, making them harder to track and allowing them to avoid paying taxes to Bali’s budget.
One of the key points of the circular will be a ban on non-local vehicles being used by companies operating in Bali. “We will reduce the number of vehicles with non-DK license plates. All businesses operating in transportation, logistics, and tourism must use vehicles registered with Bali’s DK plates,” Samsi emphasized.
The rise in non-DK vehicles has also intensified conflicts between traditional tourist transport drivers and online taxi drivers, who pick up passengers anywhere.
Although some locals have called for a complete ban on non-DK vehicles entering Bali, authorities acknowledge that such a measure would be difficult to implement. “Even before 2018, this issue had already been raised, but controlling the entry of non-local vehicles into Bali proved too challenging. Furthermore, by law, every Indonesian citizen has the right to move freely across the country,” Samsi explained.
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