A Glutton of Taxis: Kuta, Bali

They are everywhere!. No sooner do you step out of your place of residence in Bali they are then hustling for your Rupiah. They drive up and down Jalan Legian in their hundreds day and night.

There is a glutton of taxis in the tourist areas and far too many for the number of tourists in Bali at the moment. A lot of these taxi drivers are real hustlers and downright rude. Always I catch a Bluebird Taxi. Besides being such cool drivers, you can guarantee not getting ripped off by a faulty meter or the old trick of I forgot to turn the meter on.

I Nyoman Bagiana a member of Commission A of the Regional Parliament for Badung recently told the Indonesian language DenPost that it’s high time that police and local transportation officials review the number of licenses issued to local taxi operators according to the Bali Discovery.

Bagiana's concerns are tied to the high number of taxis operating in Kuta that far exceed current demand levels in the current business downturn in Bali. This has resulted in a large number of idle taxis being illegally parked by their drivers on sidewalks and in no parking areas on the already narrow streets and byways of Kuta.

The Kuta Based local legislator is calling on the Transportation Authority of Badung, the Police and related government bodies to undertake a study of Bali's transportation needs in order to stem the current over supply and prevent further damage to Kuta and Bali's image.