Separating ownership and operation will significantly improve public bus transportation system

THE public transportation system is one area where the country has not yet achieved the level of developed nations.

- By Damien Fernando

The reason is that planners have failed to identify the fundamental flaw in its structure.Sri Lanka has approximately 10,000 private bus owners and the CTB. There are about 16,000 buses owned by private operators and 3 to 4,000 buses owned by the CTB. Both the CTB and private owners also operate the buses.

The solution to these issues is to separate ownership from operational responsibilities. This involves assigning one operator to each geographic area, which will likely be a provincial authority. There will be nine operators on the island, each responsible for bus transportation within a province. A tenth operator will oversee interprovincial routes. Each provincial transport authority (the operators) will operate under the provincial council.

For example, the Western Province Transport Authority (or a WPC-owned company) would serve as the operator responsible for bus services in the Western Province. This operator would develop schedules based on peak trip demand and ensure that trips run even when they are not immediately profitable. (For instance, initially the 176 route will have a bus every 5 minutes during peak hours, every 20 minutes during off-peak hours, and every 40 minutes from midnight to 5 a.m.) This peak-time schedule could be gradually adjusted based on demand.