Bus Associations seek fare hike

COLOMBO (News 1st); The All Ceylon Private Bus Owners Association has requested for a bus fare increase, citing that the price of a liter of diesel has risen by Rs. 60/-.

Accordingly, the General Secretary of the All Ceylon Private Bus Owners Association, Anjana Priyanjith stated that the private bus owners and consumers equally have been inconvenienced by the current economic crisis. 

Therefore, he emphasized that the yearly increase of bus fares should take place after taking the fuel price hikes into consideration, and therefore bus fares should increase by 35%.

He also stated that only 1,000 private buses out of 20,000 buses are in operation today (26).

Meanwhile, the Lanka Private Bus Associations says that the current fuel crisis has become a obstruction to operate private bus services.

The President of Lanka Private Bus Owners Association, Gamunu Wijeratne stated that it had become difficult to continue to operate the bus services due to the fuel crisis which has hindered the operation of private bus services, as SLTB depots have also halted granting fuel to buses.

He pointed out that while only 10% of total private buses are in operation today, bus services are at a risk of completely being halted due to the fuel crisis.