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Private buses and the public

Harried bus commuters are likely to greet with relief the resolve of the Western Province Transport Ministry to crack down on private bus operatives who sidestep their duty of issuing their passengers with tickets once the relevant bus fares are paid by them.

Western Province Transport Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna was quoted telling a recent transport workshop conducted for private bus conductors that the scheme would come into operation early next month. Western Province Transport Ministry flying squads, we learn, would be deployed for this purpose.

They would be carrying out spot checks on private buses and will be imposing disciplinary measures on those bus operatives who do not issue their commuters with tickets once fares are tendered by the latter. Such measures could even take the form of route permit cancellations and the withdrawal of bus conductors' licences.

Considering the increasing travails of the bus commuters of this country, these are long overdue measures. While private bus operatives have even resorted to the extreme measure of striking over what they believe are just demands, now and then, the suffering commuting public have been largely voiceless. They have borne many an indignity and insult heaped on them by private bus operatives in mute, helpless silence over the years. On top of all this, the public are usually not issued tickets by the conductors of these buses.

Consequently, the commuters lack concrete, indisputable proof that they have travelled in a particular bus if called on to do so by the authorities. This omission on the part of bus operatives, we believe, is mostly deliberate. In a court of law, for instance, the accused operatives would be in an uncontestable position when facing charges by an aggrieved passenger. For, proof that the aggrieved party had travelled in the bus in question would be absent.

In addition to the above, when tickets are not issued by private bus conductors, passengers are subjected to the burning humiliation of being repeatedly and rudely called on to pay their fares, although they may have already done so. This, however, is only one of the many traumas bus passengers are expected to endure. The deplorable conditions of bus travel are too well known to merit reiteration here.

Therefore, we welcome the announced disciplinary measures. Our hope is that they will be truly enforced rather than be merely spoken about. We believe it is time that private bus operatives are called on to observe the rules and regulations pertaining to their function. They cannot be allowed to be a law unto themselves. They should be alerted to the need to give of their best to their passengers rather than treat the latter as objects of exploitation.

While the legitimate grievances of the private bus sector need to be resolved by the authorities, it must be pointed out to the former that they would be acting in their own interest by meeting the needs of the passengers. We believe it was timely to have pointed out to the private bus sector, the challenges they would have to measure up to with the advent of the UK-based IBIS company to the area of local bus management. If private bus operatives are to compete with IBIS - managed buses, they would need to improve their services vastly. Particularly, the emotional and physical comfort of bus passengers would need to be considered urgent priorities.

However, the State must consider it incumbent to remain the pivot of the public transport system. It must ensure that the needs of the public are met, whatever the changes in the public transport system. Enforcement of rules and regulations is a mandatory duty of the State and it must do this firmly in the public interest.

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