Bandar Seri Begawan is a small town whose centre you can easily explore on foot.

However, there are also several points of interest outside the city centre, which you can reach by the relatively infrequent bus service or by taxi via the DART mobile app.

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The DART ride-sharing app

The most popular form of transport for both locals and tourists is taxis booked via the DART mobile app.

Grab, Uber, Gojek and other well-known apps do not operate in Brunei, but DART is their Bruneian equivalent and is very easy to use.

• DART on Google Play
• DART on the App Store

You can book a car in the same way as with well-known apps such as Uber and Bolt.

How to pay and prices

Prices are dynamic and depend on current demand, just as with other similar apps.

DART Taxi is relatively expensive compared with neighbouring countries, but cheaper than standard taxis.

You’ll usually pay around 5 bnd for a journey from the city centre to the Gadong Night Market or the Jame Asr’ Hassanil BolkiahMosque.

A journey from the city centre to Brunei Airport (BWN ) will cost between 12 bnd and 15 bnd, and if you’re heading to the beach resort of Jerudong, expect to pay around 22 bnd.

You can choose from two payment methods:

• Cash – you must always pay the exact amount shown in the app
• Credit – you can top up your credit in the app by paying with your debit or credit card; this will be automatically deducted once the journey is complete. Please note, however, that credit is non-refundable.

It is not customary to tip the driver, but if you wish to round up the fare, the driver will usually accept a tip.

Availability of DART cars

DART operates not only in Bandar Seri Begawan, but throughout the country.

Car availability is good in the city centre, where you’ll usually wait 5–10 minutes for one to arrive. In the outskirts of Bandar Seri Begawan, the waiting time is 15–30 minutes, and outside the city it can be 30–60 minutes.

However, drivers will usually confirm your journey straight away, even if you’re outside the city centre; it just takes them longer to reach you.

You can also book a DART via the app for a specific time in the future, which is useful, for example, for an early morning journey to the airport, when car availability may not be as good.

Is DART safe?

Yes. Brunei is generally very safe and you don’t need to worry about any scams. You always pay the price shown in the app before the journey begins.

DART drivers must hold a taxi licence, and traffic regulations are generally observed in Brunei.

Taxi

You won’t see many ordinary taxis on the streets.

What’s more, the cars usually don’t have the classic ‘Taxi’ sign on the roof, but only one inside the car, behind the windscreen.

Regular taxi ranks are located in front of the old coach station in the city centre (see map) or at the airport.

Fares and payment

Taxis always run on the meter and payment is by cash only. As with the DART, there are no instances of fraud or journeys without the meter running among regular taxi drivers.

The taxi fare is determined by the meter:

• 3 bnd - a flat-rate charge for journeys to and from the airport
• 3,50 bnd - per 1 km or 1 minute of travel (whichever comes first)
• 0,20 bnd - every additional 250 metres or 15 seconds of travel (whichever comes first)

Between 18:00 and 06:00, a 50% surcharge applies.

Regular taxis are usually more expensive than journeys booked via the DART mobile app.

Public transport – buses

Public transport in Bandar Seri Begawan and its immediate surroundings (Muara, Jerudong, Sengkurong, Kuala Lurah, Lumapas and others) is provided by buses.

All routes depart from the central bus stop marked ‘BSB Bus Station’. It is situated on Kianggeh Road, near The Brunei Hotel *** (see map).

Individual bus routes are identified by a number painted on the front of the bus, below the windscreen.

The buses operate to a fixed timetable, but this cannot be found anywhere. Timetables are not displayed at the stops, and the only online information is available via the Transport BN mobile app, which, however, only lists the stops for each route.

Fares and tickets

The fare is the same on all routes and amounts to 1 bnd.

You pay per journey, regardless of how many stops you make.

You must always pay the fare to the driver when you alight, and payment can only be made in cash.

Routes, timetables and maps

In practice, buses on each route run roughly once an hour, although some routes only run once every two hours.

Buses runfrom around6.00 am to 8.00 pm. However, services finish at 8.00 pm, so the last buses on most routes usually depart between 6.45 pm and 7.00 pm.

More frequent services are available, for example, on routes 20, 1C, 1A and 36, which run roughly 2–3 times an hour.

Which routes are most useful for tourists?

• Routes 01A, 01C, 20 and 22 – run from the city centre to the Gadong Night Market
• Routes 23, 24, 34, 36, 38 – run from the city centre to Brunei BWN Airport
• Routes 42, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 56 – run from the city centre to the Sultan’s Palace, Istana Nurul, and the popular budget hotel, Badi’ah
• Routes 55, 57, 58 – run from the city centre to the Jerudong resort
• Routes 37, 38, 39 – run from the city centre to Muara bus station, where you can change to route 33 towards Muara Beach or Serasa jetty

You can view the official map of bus routes in Bandar Seri Begawan below. You can download the map in PDF format from the official websitejpd.gov.bn.

Motorboat to Kampong Ayer

The quickest way to reach the popular tourist destination of Kampong Ayer, a water village, from the city centre is by boat.

Small motorboats do not have a timetable or a specific landing stage.

Simply take a stroll along the waterfront, whether in the city centre or in Kampong Ayer, and within a minute one of the many boatmen will approach you with an offer to take you to the other side of the river.

A single journey costs 1 bnd and payment is by cash only.

The journey takes about 1 minute.