Govt. must not yield to threats of private bus operators

There is a hue and cry over the recent police crackdown on unauthorised accessories adorning private buses and three-wheelers as part of the Government ‘Clean SL’ program. After threats of a strike, the private bus owners have gained a three-month grace period to remove the accessories on buses but the main problem with the private bus system is not the fancy decorations but reckless driving, disregard for traffic rules as well as lack of concern for the safety of passengers. 

The number of fatal accidents involving private buses are too many. Thousands of people have died due to their carelessness while many others have been maimed for life. But the private bus mafia as they are often referred to have managed to hold not only the public hostage but also politicians and officials with threats of strike.

There are roughly around 17,000 private buses operating island-wide and taking over 55% of the road transport users while the CTB with around 3,500 take up around 12% of the population that use buses. This is the reason why the private bus operators are in a position to hold the Government to ransom with threats of strike as such action inconveniences the public and makes any government look bad.

Ever since the introduction of the private bus system to the country, it has been poorly regulated. It is common talk that bus owners pay off both the police and transport sector regulators so they can get lucrative route permits and get to break rules and get away without punishment. There are also allegations that private bus owners themselves are either politicians or senior public officials or those in the police. Given the manner in which the private bus operators have managed to have things their way, it’s more likely than not that the allegations are true.

The Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) or the Sri Lanka Transport Board as it’s now known was once an efficient and conscientious service. It was not profit driven and was meant to provide a service to the public by attending to the needs of the commuters. But that’s a long-gone era which has been replaced with a corrupt, dog-eat-dog, only for-profit private bus system as well as a lethargic, wasteful and incompetent CTB. The State-run bus drivers today are comfortable knowing their pay awaits them at the end of the month with additional perks at retirement, so they no longer provide a service but are mostly marking time. They more than happily make room for the private buses to take the load amidst allegations that they too get paid off for giving more business to those running the private service.

The private bus owners on the other hand are only after money, making drivers and conductors they hire work impossibly long hours for less pay and giving them daily targets which push them to drive faster, squeeze as many passengers as possible into a bus and break traffic rules as they rush to meet the target.

In all this it is the public who suffer in packed buses and are at the mercy of drivers who pay scant care to the safety or convenience of passengers.

The recent crackdown by the Police is good but as they say, new brooms sweep well, and this could be just another passing fad as happens with any new Government.

If the public expects the Police to keep up the pressure on private busses, they’re likely to be disappointed. If the police officers on duty all these years did not see the blatant manner in which private buses were breaking traffic rules, then they will not see them now, except maybe when the cameras are turned on them.

The Government will have to go beyond paying lip service and not cave in to the threat of private bus operators but look at the problems faced by commuters and address them. Otherwise, five years down the line, it’ll be another long list of broken promises by this Government as the people wait for the world class public transport system they were promised during the elections.