Semi-luxury service a fraud
Suraj BANDARA
The semi-luxury bus service operators who overcharge passengers will
be apprehended and prosecuted, Transport Ministry Secretary Sumith
Weerasingha told the Daily News.
He said this bus mafia charging inflated rates provides less
facilities than expected from the semi-luxury service. "They will be
fined if anybody complains about overcharging and for providing normal
bus service facilities. If the same offence is repeated, the fine will
be doubled or their route permits will be cancelled, the Secretary said.
He said though this is the scenario in almost all the routes, no one
complains about this fraudulent act. "Therefore, we cannot take any
legal action against the culprits. The public must come forward to weed
out these malpractices", he said.
The semi-luxury bus service is an illusion. The bus fares are high
while the term semi-luxury is a misnomer, a regular passenger from
Matara told the Daily News. Nobody in the administration takes this
seriously. Bus conductors charge fees according to their whims and
fancies, he said.
This problem was presented to the authorities but all efforts were in
vain. Bus conductors take the money saying they are giving semi-luxury
service.
But they pick up all the passengers from every halt like the normal
bus service. Passengers have to travel amidst many hardships ignoring
harsh words of bus conductors a woman told the Daily News.
When passengers protest, bus conductors say they were only doing the
bidding of the bus owners and that they won't be paid if the collection
is low. Passengers are asked to complain to the either bus owner or the
regulatory body, another passenger said.
Sri Lanka Transport Board spokesman said they were trying to minimize
malpractices of the semi-luxury bus service.
However, due to some legal loopholes and demand for passenger
transport, they cannot stop overloading. But attention has been focused
to either cancel or enforce the law to prevent fraud by private bus
operators. |