Joint timetable delayed till State transport sector strengthened

by Rajmi Manatunga

The Transport Ministry will delay the implementation of joint timetables for the passenger bus service until the State bus sector is strengthened.

Transport Minister A.H.M. Fowzie told the Daily News that a common timetable would cause an imbalance at this point of time owing to the present condition of the State bus service.

Private buses constitute over 70 per cent of Sri Lanka's passenger bus population (with 18,000 buses islandwide) while the fleet of the Sri Lanka Transport Board and cluster bus companies are only around 5,000.

"If we implement the joint timetable system under these circumstances the State-run bus service would have only a meagre share of bus operations islandwide," he said.

Fowzie said that 2,000 new buses will shortly be added to the State bus sector with the objective of strengthening and bringing it on par with the private bus service.

"We hope to include the new buses to the service within the next two months," he said.