Private bus owners to meet MR

11 January 2011 12:06 pm - 12 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Private bus owners will meet President Mahinda Rajapakse next week to discuss their concerns, the Private Bus Operators Association (PBOA) said today.

The private bus owners were to go on strike today but the decision was revoked after senior Government officials intervened in the matter. The PBOA’s President Gemunu Wijeyratne said that they are anticipating an increase in bus fares after discussions with the President.

“We hope to discuss all our concerns including the implementation of timetables and bus fares. We expect an increase in diesel prices this year therefore our request to increase bus fares should be accepted,” Wijeyratne said. He said the rate at which bus fares are to be increased will be decided by a commission which recently been formed to look into the matter.

Although the review of bus fares takes place in the month of July each year, Wijeyratne said that they may receive confirmation after the discussion with the President.

Meanwhile Transport Minister, Kumara Welgama said that although private bus owners withdrew their decision to go on strike today at the last minute, there were excess buses on the roads to meet the needs of bus passengers.

“We had prepared ourselves well before private buses were to go on strike and brought in 175 buses from outside the Western Province to meet the demand. In addition to that 40 railway trips were included to accommodate more people. If private buses threaten to strike again we can meet the challenge,” Welgama said. (Olindhi Jayasundere)

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Comments - 12

Konde bendapu china Tuesday, 11 January 2011 12:11 PM

Apparently in Srilanka nothing is happening without MR ,why don t these ministers leave poor man alone

Roshan Tuesday, 11 January 2011 12:12 PM

lol

Karuna Amman Tuesday, 11 January 2011 12:25 PM

Very True

raja Tuesday, 11 January 2011 12:38 PM

I think the government should reduce the bus fare for CTB buses. that will be a relief for poor people.. let private buses increase fare if their request is reasonable.

ITN NEWS Tuesday, 11 January 2011 12:46 PM

HEAD LINES: Another huge amount of bus owners to support MR s BIG FUTURE.

KABAB Tuesday, 11 January 2011 01:00 PM

Mr. Gamunu Wijeratne, please bring to light the so called senior government officials who intervened in this subject.

Anushka Tuesday, 11 January 2011 01:17 PM

MR, please tell this bus mafia to go to hell, and look towards improving the government transport facilities

saman Tuesday, 11 January 2011 03:58 PM

ha ha ! same same ...

citizen1 Tuesday, 11 January 2011 04:54 PM

This is great news for MR. He loves being the center of attention.

Danton Tuesday, 11 January 2011 06:00 PM

Subject Ministers are there to handle these problems. Why does Union leaders want MR to pork his finger in every one's A...s. May be the Union leader like to go in a New SUV.

Wimal_Madawansa Wednesday, 12 January 2011 02:36 AM

Nextly the beggers and the scavengers will meet the President.

Tee Wednesday, 12 January 2011 02:59 AM

You are right

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Private bus owners to meet MR

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