NTC to handover report on stopping semi-luxury buses to Minister by weekend

A study which conducted by the National Transport Commission (NTC) concerning the relevance of the Semi Luxury Class service, would be handed over to the Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera end this week, the Ministry said.

The officials said the Minister had drawn his attention to the termination of the Semi-luxury Class bus service.

"About 400 buses had been assigned for the service. Before terminating the service it is relevant to consider the party which is responsible for assigning those buses to service," the Minister had said.

The NTC has also advised to have discussions and to look into alternatives and how assign the buses if the Semi-luxury bus service was terminated.

The issue was raised again following complaints higher charges than that of normal service claiming it was a Semi-luxury bus service.

Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera had earlier requested an immediate report from the National Transport Commission (NTC) over the allegations of charging more who were travelling from Nuwara-Eliya to Colombo on Saturday, claiming the private bus service to be semi-luxury.

"This bus belonged to the normal service category and it was issued with a temporary route permit to operate between Nuwara-Eliya and Colombo.

A normal service bus charges Rs.185 from passengers from Gampola to Colombo.

However, the passengers were charged with Rs.278 which is claimed to be the fare of a Semi-luxury service," Ministry sources said.

Although, Rs.175 is charged from passengers who are travelling from Peradeniya to Colombo in a normal service bus and this bus had charged Rs.251.

"This bus had made a serious mistake," the Minister said.

“Therefore, the minister had requested an immediate report of the bus before cancelling its route permit. Also, the Minister advised to find out the responsible person who had issued the Semi-luxury service route permit to a normal service bus.

The bus had not paid attention to at least providing the facilities closer to the semi-luxury service. This shows this bus service money appears to have been swindled from the public. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)