Sri Lanka’s passenger transport services are to be operated in a safe and secure manner until the corona virus pandemic is contained completely.
A Passenger Transport Service Management Task Force was appointed to ensure such a public transport service.
The 21 member task force will be chaired by Transport Ministry Secretary Gamini Seneviratne. Additional Transport Ministry Secretary J.M. Thilakeratne will serve as Secretary to the Task Force.
According to the Ministry of Transport data, there are roughly 110,000 buses operated on roads countywide before the imposition of countywide curfew owing to Covid -19 out break in the island.
Under this set up it is gigantic task for the task force to ensure a safe, secure and efficient service for commuters without the support of private bus operators.
According to a recent study, overloading, discomfort due to the lack of seats and cleanliness were identified as main problems associated with private bus providers.
Bus scheduling also needs to improve. Schedules should be presented by the Ministry of Transport to operators having studied the volume of traffic on different routes.
The existing Bus Priority Lanes (BPL) can be better utilised; they have somewhat been a failure. This is due to the dis-utility generated from existing bus services as well as private vehicle users encroaching into the bus lanes.
The task force ha been urged to find solutions to these basic issues when making its recommendations to the ministry.
(LIN)