9 January 2017 08:36 pm
He said they have the ability to operate private bus service better than the SLTB by providing more facilities to commuters.
“After closing the SLTB, the government should take steps to acquire private buses to SLTB. That will help the government to save Rs.1,350 million per month which would be used to maintain the SLTB,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the Transport Ministry had decided to import 2,000 buses with the intention of providing a better service to the people by using the recent countrywide bus strike as the reason, he said.
“It is clear that there is an excess of 3,000 private buses in the country. Therefore, the government can use these buses to provide more facilities to the people in a certain procedure. The Minister has no right to import buses to the country. The Ministry had taken this in a manner of destroying the private bus service and its employees,” he said.
However, if the minister is trying to do so, we cannot let it happen and the minister would have to face bitter experiences, he said. “We will not let the minister to destroy the private bus service in the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ACPBA requested the minister to operate the private and CTB buses under a joint time schedule.
By assigning the joint time table there would be no need to have races with SLTB buses and that would also help to minimize the roadside accidents, Mr. Priyanjith said.
This government has the responsibility to operate the SLTB and private buses in a joint time table to provide a good service to the people in the country, he added. (Chaturanga Pradeep)