More buses to supplement rural fleet

Irangika RANGE

Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) will add 200 new mini buses to its outstation fleet to uplift the public transport facilities in rural areas. An SLTB spokesman said that the Treasury is due to release funds under the directives of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to implement this programme which will solve the bus shortage along rural routes.

"Deploying new mini buses in rural areas would ensure convenience and comfort of the public," he said. Meanwhile, a project to repair 1,000 SLTB buses lying idle islandwide at bus depots is being implemented to add them to the rural fleet.

He said that of the abandoned buses, 1,000 can be repaired and deployed on outstation routes. The Transport Ministry's intention is to increase the number of SLTB buses to, 7,000 by adding these 1,000 buses to the fleet this year. "We will ensure that an adequate number of buses ply in difficult areas," he said.

These buses were kept off the roads and sold at auctions due to the lack of spare parts such as engines and gearboxes.

"We identified that they are in good condition and have only needed minor repairs," he said.

He further said that the necessary expertise and workforce are available in the SLTB to repair buses which in turn will save huge amount of money as well.