Improving public transport

On Monday morning, the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association (LPBOA) announced a strike on the 138 route due to a dispute with the Police over the driving licence of a bus driver. Later the LPBOA announced that the strike had been called off after the Police agreed to issue a spot fine slip, on charges of dangerous driving, to the bus driver concerned.

Reading the subscript of this incident, one can detect another episode indicative of an alarming trend which has developed in the transport sector of this country. Private bus drivers have taken command of the road, intimidating other drivers and driving recklessly.

Apart from speeding, private buses also stop in the middle of the road haphazardly, giving no signal beforehand, in order to pick up passengers outside designated bus halts. They drop passengers off in the middle of the road, often at busy road junctions. They pull out without any indication. They overtake at will, even on double lines in the face of oncoming traffic, often forcing the latter off the road.

It is not unheard of to see bus crews of the public sector Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) being insulted and intimidated by their considerably rowdier counterparts in the private sector, to prevent them from running their buses according to the schedule.

Private bus crews

Indeed, anecdotal information suggests that that some SLTB crews have been forced to respond with similar road behaviour in order to prevent their own buses from being run off the roads.

Private bus crews do not intimidate only other road users and SLTB staff. Passengers on private buses themselves regularly are insulted and terrorised by the very private bus conductors who are supposed to be responsible for their safety on board.

Regulations regarding the maximum number of standing passengers are ignored with impunity, as are those regarding issue of tickets. Private bus conductors appear never to carry smaller denomination coins, so passengers rarely get back the full balance from their ticket payments.

On low density routes, private buses can be observed travelling at less than 20 kilometres per hour, delaying as much as possible to pick up the maximum number of passengers. Then, in order to keep within the schedule, in the last parts of their routes they speed up to 70-80 km/h, even on narrow roads in built-up areas on which the Highway Code limit of 50 km/h is barely safe.

Highway Code

Private bus crews have become a law unto themselves. At the slightest hint of official action against their illegal actions - including regular Police procedure - they go on strike. Private buses are operating in a manner similar to the way they did before 1958 and which led directly to bus nationalisation.

Obviously, this situation is not conducive of an orderly resolution to the manifold problems besetting the public transport sector. One of the fundamental disadvantages of the use of private business in sectors such as public transport is that the need for profit overshadows the need to provide a decent service. In advanced countries it is rare for the private sector to be involved in public transport; where it is, it is thoroughly regulated and is under the aegis of the state sector.

The needs of private buses militate against the fundamental needs of consumers. For example, at the height of the Ceylon Transport Board era, bus services terminated at railway stations, allowing quick transfer between transport modes. Nowadays, commuters are limited in choice to other private buses unless they wish to take long walks - which, while conducive to good health in the long run, are not exactly what are required during the rush hour.

One shudders to imagine the situation, had the government not revived the SLTB from the ashes of the defunct 'Peoplised Transport Services' which had succeeded the regional boards into which the CTB had been broken up previously.

Two relatively recent measures by the government point the way that public transport should head. The first is the introduction of the innovative bus service on the E1 Southern Expressway. The other is the renovation of the Southern coastal railway. These allow passengers to travel in speed and comfort to their destinations according to set timetables - which should be the aim of any transport service.

The E1 bus services are expensive, but the Southern express trains are not. The latter have been causing some anxiety to private bus operators, who complain that commuters prefer to travel cheaply, at speed and in comfort, which puts their own services at a disadvantage.

Basic needs

The SLTB already sets the standards (albeit very low now) of service to commuters and adherence to regulations. What it needs to do is to raise its benchmark; for example, by improving its fleet to more modern standards, replacing the fleet which is mainly over 10 years old with new buses conforming to the latest ergonomic designs.

The Ministry of Transport has announced that it will be purchasing new buses for the SLTB from China, with better engines. It should guarantee that these come with easier access footboards, especially for the elderly, the infirm and the disabled. The handholds should be at a height consonant with that of our population, and other safety measures should be compulsory.

The government, for its part, needs to ensure a level playing field by making certain that private buses keep within the laws and regulations of this country - at the very minimum, ensuring their compliance with the Highway Code.

Historically, the CTB operated best when two conditions were fulfilled: that the employees were satisfied and when discipline was enforced rigorously. By analogy, while private bus operators should be kept happy by ensuring their income, the rules and regulations pertaining to their operations should be policed with utmost strictness. Unless the private buses are forced to obey the law of the land, no progress will be possible in ensuring for the commuters their basic needs.