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Denpasar. Southern Bali will get its own bus network with dedicated bus lanes before the end of the month, an official said on Wednesday.

Based on the TransJakarta busway, the Trans Sarbagita busway will begin operating on a trial basis at the end of the month, said Made Santha, head of the Bali Transportation, Information and Communication Office.

The name Sarbagita, Santha said, was derived from the names of the main districts and cities served by the network: Denpasar city, Badung district, Gianyar district and city and Tabanan district and city. “In the first trial run, the route will be from the Batu Bulan terminal in Gianyar to Nusa Dua in Badung,” he said.

A total of 15 buses — with capacities of 20 and 40 passengers — have been prepared for the Trans Sarbagita network, which will comprise 17 routes.

Fares will be the similar to those on the TransJakarta network, though students will receive a discount on the Trans Sarbagita. Adults will pay Rp 3,500 (41 cents) and students Rp 2,500.

Santha said he hoped that the new network would be able to help alleviate congestion on the streets used by the buses.

He said the number of vehicles had grown rapidly in Bali during recent years, from 1.58 million in 2006 to 2.35 million at the start of this year. About 1.9 million of these vehicles, he said, were operating in the southern Bali.

While vehicle numbers are increasing at a rapid pace, road construction grows by only 2.5 percent annually. The provincial government previously warned that traffic was becoming so bad that Bali could be gridlocked in just five years.

To ensure the Trans Sarbagita operated smoothly, Santha said, the government would set up automated traffic control systems at a number of congestion points along the routes.

That would enable authorities to take quick action whenever congestion was detected. If a road became packed with vehicles, it could be given priority for green lights, preventing congestion from getting out of control, he said. If an area was experiencing traffic heavy flow, he said, vehicles could also be diverted to less congested lanes.

Santha said the government would allocate Rp 6 billion from the state budget for the project.

Ketut Teneng, a spokesman for the Bali provincial government, said the funding to build the Trans Sarbagita system would be disbursed to the regional administration by the central government.

Teneng said the Bali administration was subsidizing the fares for the Trans Sarbagita busway. The true cost of tickets, he said, should have been Rp 7,000, but the subsidy brought it down to Rp 3,500.

He said time was still needed to change the buses’ number plates. As they were gifts from the central government, the buses still had Jakarta registration plates.