Final decision on semi-luxury buses to be made in a week

A decision on semi-luxury buses will be made by the Passenger Transport Management Ministry in a week, and representatives of the industry have until then to present valid reasons for the service to be continued.

A statement issued by the Ministry stated that they have been pushing to discontinue the semi-luxury service, and will not allow for further exploitation of passengers by semi-luxury bus service providers.

The proposal to discontinue the service came after a survey by the National Transport Commission showed that 68% of passengers questioned agreed that the service was no longer needed. 8% stated that they have entered a bus not knowing it was a semi-luxury bus.

While Passenger Transport Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera met with representatives of the industry on 1 January, a decision on the matter was not reached, as the Minister did not agree with the conditions put forward by representatives of the industry.

According to the statement, the representatives suggested renaming the service as “limited express”, but Amaraweera had disagreed, saying it was merely a name-change with no change to the fare charged, nor improvement of the quality of the service.

For the semi-luxury service to continue, regulations by the National Transport Commission have to be adhered to. These include accepting a limited number of passengers, having seats with headrests, and making a limited number of stops.