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Park and Ride City Liner coach service launched

Ashraff A. Samad Dehiwela-Mount Lavania Special Correspondent

The National Transport Commission (NTC) together with the Ministry of Transport has inaugurated a project for 2009 to alleviate traffic congestion.

The first official Park and Ride facility was opened by Minister of Transport Dullas Alahapperuma with the participation of Minister for Road Passenger Transport, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Mayor for Moratuwa Samanlal Fernando, Professor Amal Kumarage, Chairman ECD Global Ltd Emil Kronemberu and M.B.S Fernando of the NTC.

This facility will provide parking for around 150 vehicles and will be serviced by the first City Liner Coach Service, for which permits has been granted to ECD Global Ltd to operate between Moratuwa and Fort via Nawam Mawatha. Initially the Katubedda-Fort service will operate every 30 minutes between 6.30 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. and will return from Fort from 4.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

Those who wish to use this City Liner services can either park their vehicles at Katubedda. Passengers need to purchase a one way ticket before boarding the bus and cannot hail it on the road and get in.

Tickets for the City Liner are available for daily, weekly or monthly use.A seat will be guaranteed for every passenger and passengers can choose which vehicle they wish to travel in according to the available time table.

It is expected that the City Liner would operate through the day as the demand picks up and will operate at ten minute frequencies during the peak hours.

Park and Ride schemes are often marketed as a way to avoid the difficulties of driving in congested traffic and to avoid the cost of parking within the city centre.

More importantly the burden on congested roads approaching cities and expensive city centre parking is expected to be reduced. Thus the Park and Ride CityLiner are one of the strategies being adopted by the Ministry of Transport as a response to the increasing traffic congestion on the major arteries in Colombo.

Park and Ride sites offer an important option to commuters who wish to have costly, less stressful and a more comfortable trip to the city.

The City Liner service is designed for commuters to read, relax or even work on their laptop computers while travelling.

The NTC has also selected a site to develop for a Park and Ride in Kadawatha.

Places in Talangama and Werehera have also been identified.

All Park and Ride sites will have secured parking with paved ground, marked and numbered parking stalls, walls/fencing on all four sides, flood lights and 24-hour security.

It will also have a well designed waiting area for passengers awaiting a coach.

Lifestyles Home Furniture Store at Kohuwala

Lifestyles opened its new store at Kohuwala recently.

This store offers an extensive range of high quality furniture, accessories and gift items.

At “Lifestyles” they offer a modern range of exquisitely crafted furniture, hand-picked from local suppliers and imported from Singapore and Thailand and they are the exclusive agents for the Raux Brothers, SB Furniture (Thailand) and KingKoil (Singapore).

Lifestyles holds an extensive stock of their collections so you can usually buy what you see instead of having to wait weeks for delivery. They have a range of accessories for the home that also make gifts for all occasions as well as gift vouchers that can be spent in-store.

They have extended their services to customers by providing a personalised service with friendly, knowledgeable staff together with a team of well trained interior designers.

They will visit your home/shop and guide you selecting and placing furniture according to your taste and budget. They offer free delivery and installation within Colombo city limits and suburbs.

Rhino introduces machine-painted ceiling sheets to Lanka

Machine-painted ceiling sheets have been introduced to Sri Lanka for the first time by Rhino Roofing Products Ltd.

These elegant, durable and high quality sheets marketed under the brand name of Colorup are designed to add glamour to the home of the most discerning consumer.

The ceiling sheets come in five standard colours that add a touch of class to the interior. Rhino can also offer additional colours to blend with the home in accordance with specific customer requirements.

Colorup ceiling sheets are recommended by architects and builders due to their many advantages. Installing these is a hassle-free, economical and speedy process and involves minimal labour. The process has been minimized to just a few easy steps.

As Colorup ceiling sheets are mechanically pre-painted, they will retain colour uniformity over time without fading.

In addition to this, there is also a cost saving as there is no need to spend money on paint and labour.

Rhino first evaporates the water and applies a filler coating and then paints these using injectors.

Then these sheets are baked in an oven to properly absorb the colour before being dried. This is the reason why the colour does not fade.

Colorup ceiling sheets are very durable and resistant to fungal activity. They are also safe and environment-friendly. All their products are made from high quality (SLS standard) raw materials to ensure optimum customer satisfaction. Maintenance is minimal. Two pairs of gloves and a tin of paint for touchups is also given free with every purchase.

Colorup also offers a free technical advice call service with step-by-step guidance, and if necessary, would dispatch an expert to inspect the roof. They also provide a professional after-sales service.

Colorup services and products are innovative, customer driven and is way ahead of the competition.

These superior products are manufactured in the only fully-automated factory in South-East Asia, and distributed islandwide through over 300 registered dealers.

Free outgoing calls from Lanka Bell

Lanka Bell has introduced two new packages that enable subscribers to make calls to any network free.

The first of the two packages, “Infinity Plus” offers 1000 minutes free outgoing calls with 700 minutes free to any Lanka Bell phone and 300 minutes free to any other network at any time of the day.

The second package, “Infinity” offers 400 minutes of free calls to any Lanka Bell phone and 100 minutes free to any other network for 18 hours of the day between 11.00 pm and 5.00 pm.

Lanka Bell, Managing Director Prasad Samarasinghe said: “We are proud to be able to consistently offer the most affordable packages to our subscribers.

These new packages will give them hundreds of free minutes to talk to Lanka Bell users and to subscribers of any other mobile or fixed line network.”

Both packages bill on a per second basis and all incoming calls are free, the company said.

‘LECS’ appointed exhibition organizer for facets

The Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association has entered into an agreement with Lanka Exhibition and Conference Services (Pvt) Ltd, (LECS), as their official exhibition organizer.

The Facets exhibition has been organized jointly by the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association and the National Gem and Jewellery Authority of Sri Lanka during the past 18 years.

It has provided a meeting point for all parties engaged in the gem and jewellery trade in Sri Lanka and foreign markets.

The volume of trade in this industry exceeds US$ 500 million and makes a significant contribution to Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange earnings.