The Denpasar government has allocated 16 billion rupiah to resume the Trans Metro Dewata (TMD) bus service, which was suspended on January 1, 2025. The suspension occurred because financial support from Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation ended on December 31, 2024.
The agreement to relaunch the red buses was reached during a meeting between the mayor of Denpasar and Bali Governor Wayan Koster. The Bali provincial government will cover 30% of the TMD’s operational budget, while the remaining 70% will be shared among the regional budgets of the Sarbagita areas (Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, Tabanan).
The first route expected to resume will be from Sudirman (Denpasar) to Udayana University in Jimbaran. Other routes will follow, including Ubung – Sanur, Ubung – Airport, and Ubung – Ubud.
Before the suspension, public transport on the island served around 200,000 passengers per month, or approximately 6,400 people per day. However, the six bus corridors of Trans Dewata did not even fully connect all areas of Sarbagita. Bali is in critical need of public transportation to help reduce traffic congestion.
The disappearance of buses primarily affected vulnerable groups—students, pensioners, and people with disabilities—who relied on the service to commute to work and school.
One of them is Vincentius, a Balinese man who is visually impaired and uses the bus daily to get to work. He works as a traveling massage therapist, and his service area is wide. In the past, he could easily accept clients from across the island and travel from his home in Tabanan to Nusa Dua for just 2,000 rupiah using a special card for people with disabilities. When the red buses stopped running, he had to switch to online motorbike taxis, significantly increasing his transportation costs. For him and many other Balinese residents, the return of Trans Dewata is a real lifesaver.
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