Lankapage Logo CP 21 YEARS
Go Home Home Serving the Sri Lankan community globally since 2000
go to LankaPage.com

Leading News from Sri Lanka::

* Public transport, including trains and buses, return to normal from Monday
Tue, Jun 2, 2020, 10:58 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

June 02, Colombo: The Transport Services Management Ministry today (02) decided to operate the public transport services including trains and buses in the country normally with effect from Monday (June 08) considering the public behavior over the next few days as well as the advice given by the Health Units on COVID-19 Epidemic.

A discussion was held at the Ministry of Transport Services Management headed by subject Mahinda Amaraweera this morning. The Chairman of the National Transport Commission (NTC), the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) Chairman and the board of directors participated in this discussion.

Operating the public transport services including trains and buses normally from next Monday (08) according to the decisions taken at the meeting, and issues and challenges emerging during the normal operation were discussed at the meeting today.

“Although there are around 5300 SLTB buses and 23000 private buses, this is not sufficient for passenger transport. “This is why passengers are forced to be standing. COVID-19 has made it mandatory to transport only passengers for available seats. As a result there are many problems with public transport,” Minister Amaraweera pointed out.

Accordingly, steps will be taken to operate the existing private and SLTB buses to maximum capacity. In addition, all school buses, buses used for pilgrimage and leisure trips, as well as all buses on the registration waiting list will be temporarily used for passenger transport.

The temporary registration of the buses will commence tomorrow (03) and the registration will be made by the National Transport Commission or the Sri Lanka Transport Board.

About 147,000 passengers take the train per day and the trains have only 25,000 seats. Therefore, Minister Amaraweera urged the public to limit their travel as much as possible when using public transport, since the number of passengers on the train is limited to the number of seats.

However, the Minister emphasized that restrictions on transport services will be relaxed according to the directives given by the Health authorities and considering the behavior of the public in the coming days.

As the COVID-19 epidemic has not subsided in the country yet, the Minister advised all Transport sector institutions to follow the instructions provided by the Health Sector on a regular basis.

The Minister further stated that the assistance of the security forces will be sought in providing transport facilities.

Secretary to the Ministry Gamini Seneviratne was also present at the meeting.

 

ColomboPage - Recent 10 Stories ::
Four people who went to bathe in Ellewala falls are missing
-- [6 hours ago]
Long-term reforms should be carried out with good governance and transparency - U.S. Ambassador
-- [7 hours ago]
IMF has no influence on Sri Lanka’s election process
-- [7 hours ago]
Cabinet empowers the Finance Secretary to sign the IMF Agreement
-- [8 hours ago]
Suren Cooke Agencies makes strides towards a cleaner Sri Lanka with an Ocean Clean-Up initiative
-- [8 hours ago]
Brandix ‘RightToRead’ initiative gains momentum enriching Sri Lanka students and transforming learning
-- [8 hours ago]
IMF commends Sri Lanka’s reform program built on strong policy measures
-- [9 hours ago]
British Council launches revamped UK agent and counsellor engagement platform
-- [9 hours ago]
Sri Lankan President welcomes IMF Executive Board’s approval of $ 3 billion fund facility
IMF Executive Board approves US$3 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Sri Lanka

Copyright © 2000, 2020 by LankaPage.com (LLC) :
The news and other contents on ColomboPage are copyrighted property of LankaPage.com, LLC. Any unauthorized use of any information on ColomboPage may constitute a violation of copyright laws. You need written permission to reproduce, republish, post, transmit, broadcast or distribute, material from this site from LankaPage.com, LLC. However, news organizations or broadcasters in Sri Lanka may republish the news items in ColomboPage with proper acknowledgment to ColomboPage.