Private bus operators to meet over strike

The Private Bus Operators Association will meet today to take a final decision on the Western Province Private Bus Operators strike and to decide the exact date if they strike, Association’s Chairman Gemunu Wijeyratne said. A token strike would be held during the first or second week of January.

He charged that they would go on strike against the Western Province Passenger Transport Authority (WPPTA) demanding joint timetables with the CTB buses. In addition, they are protesting against the decision made by the (WPPTA) to increase the number of bus route permits by 20 percent.

The bus owners face many difficulties due to the lack of joint timetables for CTB and private buses at present. As a result, buses on the same route race each other to get to the next bust stop ahead of the other, causing accidents.

Some public buses were travelling too slow, he said.

He also said that, Western Province was already overcrowded with too many buses.

The Western Province Passenger Transport Authority Chairman Piyasena Dissanayake said that there were not enough CTB buses in the Western Province to function with joint timetables.

They have appointed a committee together with National Transport Commission and Sri Lankan Transport Board to solve the problems in this regard, he said.