End of the road for smaller buses

Rajmi Manatunga

COLOMBO: Buses with less than 26 seats will be taken off the roads in the Western Province from June this year.

"We have informed all bus owners to stop using buses with less than 26 seater for passenger transport from June 30. The regulations will apply to all main bus routes in the province except the most remote ones," Western Province Transport Authority (WPTA) Chairman J.M. Somasiri said.

He said steps will be taken to provide a Value Added Tax (VAT) concession to bus owners who continue to use smaller buses for purchasing new buses at a lower cost. "The concession will be provided through banks, leasing companies or the National Transport Commission. We expect that the measure will provide a Rs. 400,000 - Rs. 500,000 concession to bus owners in buying new buses," Somasiri said.

Meanwhile, the system for issuing route permits to private buses will also be revised from this month with the WPTA deciding to adopt a tender process for issuing permits.

"According to the existing system, route permits are issued to bus owners by transport authorities after a payment of Rs 60,000. But this has resulted in a large number of permit holders selling their permits for exorbitant prices. We hope the new system will minimise such malpractice".

In terms of the new permit issuing process, tenders will be called by transport authorities for the purchase of route permits. Bus owners who offer the highest tenders will be awarded the permits to operate on routes decided by a special committee.

Out of the 18,000 private bus population in the country, 6,700 private buses operate within the Western Province while another 3,000 enter the provincial roads everyday from other parts of Sri Lanka.