Bus fare increase; associations demand fuel concession

by Amani Nilar 22-12-2021 | 7:40 PM

COLOMBO (News 1st); State minister Dilum Amunugama says bus fares will have to be increased in the coming days.

He made these remarks after a meeting with representatives of private bus associations at the transport ministry on Wednesday (22).

The President of the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association, Gemunu Wijeratne said that 12 criteria are factored into the compiling of the price formula for buses, and Diesel is one such aspect, which the one-third of the bus fares depend on,

Therefore, Wijeratne stated that he will submit the relevant data to the National Transport Commission in the coming days, and said that they assume that bus fares would be revised by about 15% or 20%.

Meanwhile, Dilum Amunugama, the State Minister of Transport said that the National Transport Commission's Chief, Welgama has requested four days to take these factors into account and to provide their views on revising the fares.

The Ministry will have to take steps to amend the bus fares after the NTC's opinion on this is received, with additional consideration of the passenger's perspective and other reasonable factors, added the State Minister.

Other bus associations, expressing their views on the proposed bus fare hike, stated that the Ministers' remarks cannot be trusted.

Prasanna Vipalaguna, the Spokesperson of the All Island United Private Bus Owners Association said that in order to protect the industry, fares must be hiked by at least Rs. 25, and added that the associations will submit their own proposed amendments of fares in the next few days.

" The commission that didn't inquire into the well-being of bus owners during the pandemic, has no right to decide on the fares. We shall decide that so those bus owners can operate easily," he said.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the All Island Private Bus Owners Association, Anjana Priyanjan said that as a bus association, an increase in fares is not requested, as 10,000 buses are currently operating the number of journeys that are usually undertaken by 18,000 buses.

Speaking further, Priyanjan said that he is requesting the Government for fuel subsidies.