SL’s elusive quest for better public transport

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced in the Budget that 100 air-suspension, low-floor, comfortable buses will be deployed along three main road corridors within Colombo city as an initial step towards enhancing public sector transportation. The Government will allocate Rs. 3,000 million for the procurement of 100 low-floor buses and will operate under newly established companies collectively known as Metro Bus Companies (MBC).

Attempts to modernise the country’s public transport system have been going on for decades. This includes the road transport as well as the railway but still both systems remain archaic, ineffective and lacking in the qualities that deserves it to be called a ‘service.’

It’s laudable that the Government wants to improve the public transport system but buying new buses alone will not help. The State-run Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) is as bad as the private bus service when it comes to being a safe and convenient service for commuters. The drivers are equally reckless, undisciplined, and there is little consideration for passengers. When the new fleet arrives, they will be entrusted to the SLTB, and while the buses will be new, those behind the wheels will be the same, a bit like old wine in a new bottle. If the Government is serious about improving the bus service, a solid training for drivers would be the most important and this should include not only safe driving but also some etiquette.

The President also announced steps to improve the train system with an allocation of Rs. 500 million to rehabilitate old railway passenger coaches and another Rs. 250 million for 2025 to the Department of Railways to build new coaches. Another positive move but again the railway system also needs a major overhaul in keeping with the digitalisation which makes train systems effective and user-friendly.

That said, let us see if people would really be encouraged to use public transport even if we have a more perfect system in place. The reality is that this is not likely to happen in a significant manner. Already the number of people who use private modes of transport far outweighs those who use public transport. Other than those who use their cars, motorcycles, three-wheelers, etc. more school children take school vans, more office workers take office vans, those who don’t own private vehicles hire three-wheelers/cabs, all to get directly to their destination on time and is far more convenient than public transport.

Singapore is one country where private ownership of vehicles is discouraged with heavy taxes on vehicles, heavy tolls for entering areas where there is traffic congestion and heavy parking rates. In most European countries, both buses and train services are comfortable, safe and punctual but private vehicle ownership remains high. In other countries too, the public is discouraged from owning vehicles due to lack of parking, stringent road rules and hefty fines and tolls.

In developing countries too, as people get stronger financially, one of the first things they want to invest in is a vehicle of their own, be it a car, a three-wheeler or a motorcycle. In Sri Lanka, at the end of 2023 there were over 4.8 million registered motorcycles, close to two million registered motor tricycles (three-wheelers) and close to a million motor cars. For a country of 22 million people, this is a big percentage of private ownership of vehicles and this trend will only go up with the vehicle import ban being lifted.

So, while improving public transport is important, it’s unlikely it will discourage people from buying their own vehicles unless there are stringent rules like in some countries where ownership of a vehicle becomes more of a liability than an asset.