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Rationalize the bus faresTHE private bus operators have once again threatened to increase the bus fares by as much as 20% and above all, the initial fare by 100%, from the present Rs. 4 to Rs. 8. Is the threatening of the private bus operators fair or reasonable? During the recent past, we have witnessed increases of bus fares on several occasions at the request of the private operators. According to them such increases were necessary to compensate for the increases in cost of fuel, tyres, spares etc. On all occasions the bus fares were increased by adding a certain percentage to the fares existed before the increase. This has resulted in bus fares that have very little relationship to the distance travelled. This in turn has resulted in an unfair deal for the passenger particularly in respect of initial fare. When the bus services were nationalised in 1958, the fair charged had a distinct relationship to the distance travelled. In most routes in low country routes the fare was 03.3 cts per mile approximately and around 04 cts in the hill country. At the time, the lowest fare was only 05 cts; Children being charged only 03 cts as half fare. A passenger could travel from Bambalapitiya to Kollupitiya for 5 cts. Today the lowest fare being Rs. 4, a passenger has to pay that fare even for half a Kilometre. The method used to increase the bus fares during the past several years has negated the relationship that existed between the distance travelled and the fare charged. This method has been resorted to since it was easy to calculate the increased fare even though the result was unfair from the point of view of the passenger. This anomaly could be eliminated only if the bus fares were calculated on a pro-rata basis to the distance covered giving the bus operators a fair chance to recover their costs and a reasonable margin of profits. The fare could be fixed at, say 70 or 80 cts per Km; having the lowest fare at Rs. 3 with which a passenger could travel around 4 Kms. Thereafter, the fare could be increased by slabs of one rupee, thereby avoiding the use of cents in bus fares altogether. This will also eliminate the anomalies in fares that exist in various routes. However, this may need re-marking the bus fare stages in bus routes. It will appear that it is unfair to allow the private bus operators in increase the existing lowest fare under any circumstances since they are already overcharging the passengers in this respect. Does it cost a bus Rs. 4 to carry a passenger 1 Km? The present situation has resulted in encouraging the bus employees to 'kota kota yanna' picking up short distance travellers. To begin with, the authorities could implement a fair and reasonable fare structure in the SLCTB bus services without resorting to increase their bus fares as well to fall in line with the unfair bus fares of the private bus operators. After all, there is a fully functional government authority to regulate the bus services and to ensure the bus traveller get a fair deal from bus operators. The bus fares should be structured in such a way that the bus operators too could cover their costs with a fair margin of profit. It is not a bad idea to rationalise the entire structure of bus fares as suggested since the majority of our people are going to use omni buses for their day to day travel for a very long time to come and the authorities must remember there are millions of bus travellers who deserve a fair deal compared to a few hundred bus operators. I functioned as the Senior Accountant of the then CTB for several years from 1974 whose main function was comparing the cost against the revenue of all 50 odd Bus Depots that existed in the island at the time and advising the management. K. M. GUNARATNE - ------- Pre-election smilesIT IS time again for elections, and time again for mass deception as well, as almost all candidates who represent a multitude of political parties vie with one another using all their resources to hoodwink people with false promises to come to power. Strangely, it is also time again for them to realize the importance of the general public on whom they have to depend so heavily at a time like this. After a long spell of being in the state of oblivion, the abject living conditions of the people in their electorates have been felt as never before with cynical sympathy by those who wish to wield their power through various provincial councils island-wide. While many of the essential public services and amenities in the electorates they represent have deteriorated through negligence for a long time, which has made people suffer in silence, all sorts of promises are heard during the crucial time. It sounds pretty absurd that those who have been in power for a considerable time in the provincial councils are now giving firm assurances of various development projects they would implement and concessions that would be made for the well-being of the people only if they come to power this time, the very things they have grossly neglected during the time of their reign. If they have been so keen on doing some service to the area, as they keep blaring on at the meetings and while parading on the roads, why have they neglected so many things that should have been done by them? Why have they been waiting all this time to do all that? Nothing would provide better guidance than the simple answers to these questions when it comes to electing members for the provincial councils in the forthcoming elections. With provincial elections just only a few days away, almost every village and town has been defaced by senseless election campaigners, with posters stuck on every possible surface, banners hung all over and writing on public roads. Walls have become veritable hoarding spaces for election posters of candidates who used to grin at the would be political suckers from every nook and corner. Many of the candidates normally have their election posters adorned with an array of captions about their qualities. Some are exceptionally honest, pure in qualities, full of humanity, brave and courageous, while some are highly educated, helpful and sympathetic, yet some appear to be dependable, dynamic and ingenious. One may wonder where these people with so many good qualities have been hiding all this time. Do we really have such saintly beings in this country which has earned the notoriety of being a nation with an exceptionally high crime rate in the region? Displaying of posters of candidates in public places is an election offence. Intimidation, clashes with rivals, impersonation and rigging of votes are major offenses fuelled by candidates. If the very people who wish to hold power violate basic rules and regulations of the country, what can be expected of them? They should set an example to others, than going public in law breaking. This provides an ideal stand for people to judge for whom to vote, whether they should bring in unprincipled people to power or not. Majority of Sri Lankans are politically gullible, as many still find it difficult to understand the political gimmicks of this shrewd lot. Also, they have the tendency of falling for the sweet promises of politicians at the time of elections and undergo suffering thereafter when their expectations are not fulfilled. The most important point to consider at this time is whether the candidate one favours could be relied on for all the promises he makes to ease out the current problems faced by many through his active contribution, or he is just a hollow figure grinning out from the posters on each pillar and post along the roads nowadays. MANIL GUNAWARDENE - --------- LTTE: Talking peace and preparing for warI agree with the sentiments expressed by Rohini Hensen in the above article (DN/22 March). It is my understanding that Government's stand on a Unitary State as opposed to a Divided State is a Federated State with centralised foreign relations, legal, defence and security systems and devolved authority to the regions regardless of ethnicity and religious affinities of the regional communities. This would mean all interests of the citizens within a region would be safeguarded regardless of whether they were Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers or of any other background. The danger is to carve out regions according to ethnicity. Most successful Federated States have disregarded ethnicity in the geographical demarcations. Australia is a good example. The Aussie State Governments have the overarching responsibility for all citizens within their respective jurisdictions whether they are Anglo Saxons, Europeans, Indigenous, Asians or Africans. Perhaps our politicians and the media should clarify the concept of federation within the Unitary State more clearly so that peace discussions are not distracted by the ethnic emotions. Ethnicity is in fact is a red herring in our negotiations for a political solution. JANAKI WIJEGUNASEKERA - ------------ National Education Commission handbookI had to train a three-wheeler-driver, a youngster of 21 years to write his name, as he was unable to sign his name to get the money due for his services recently. How many more are in this plight. The root cause of most of the complaints made by parents such as "No one can read what this child writes," This one does not remember what he reads" is mostly the inability to identify and write the Sinhala alphabet. Is it the children who are responsible for these deficiencies? No, not at all. Not only the children but graduates, lecturers, and also certain newspapers too have this fault. Distorted letters and words make most books and articles published, incomprehensive. Much wastage is caused by typists who are unable to type even a few lines without a mistake. How can plans be implemented if instructions cannot be worded properly?; if the masses are unable to use the mother tongue? Can any developmental work be carried out? Would the administration be effective? Can "Mahinda Chintanaya" be implemented? Sometimes children who come with problems like "school phobia" have to be trained writing in double ruled exercise books even at the ages of over fourteen years. I had to go through the difficulty of the lack of a standard for form of Sinhala letters. Errors in the use of Sinhala language has been continued over about four generations and came to be treated as trivialities and norms until language became an incomprehensible jargon. These are just the symptoms which appear at the surface level, of the fundamental errors which lie in the infrastructure and are the consequences of the paradigm shift caused by post-modernism. Therefore individuals and small organisations cannot find solutions. Langauge is the vehicle which carried the tradition of HUMANNESS from generation to generation for 80000 years and is only second to the latter. So at such a critical juncture National Education Commission, has produced a handbook to restore the tradition of Sinhala langauge, named Sinhala akura liveema sandahaa maargopadesha a guide to write the correct form of the letters of the Sinhala alphabet which formulates a standard for Sinhala writing. It illustrates very clearly how to move the pen to get the correct form of every tiny part of each letter and has planned an exercise book with five rules (replacing the present English double rule exercise book) to suit the Sinhala alphabet. The value of this work cannot be over emphasized. It is very convenient to train children in writing using this guide. This is where the basic external aspect of endowing CULTURAL HERITAGE begins. The child thinks through the mother tongue. Now the next urgent tasks is to make this available to all the teachers especially in the primary education in remote schools and the parents. As a person who has been involved for more than 40 years, in saving children from the present crisis, I deeply appreciate this timely service of the NEC. Dear parents buy this handbook as soon as it is available in the market, correct your language, and restore the tradition that has been rejected for about four generations and train your child at home to write the alphabet properly. SAUMYA KODAGODA - ---------- Gold at MelbourneWELL done Mr. Editor, you have hit the nail right on the head. You are perhaps right by assuming that the Sports Ministry officials were shopping whilst Chinthana was receiving his gold medal (DN March 23). Many government officials are only there to make use of public funds and line their pockets (I know a few who openly admit this fact). This is poor old Sri Lanka (not when it was called Ceylon). ASHLEY RODRIGO - |
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