Steps were being taken to network the Private Transport Services Ministry, the National Transport Commission and the Bastian Mawatha Bus Station through a CCTV camera system, the Private Transport Services Ministry said.

This project would enable the Ministry to examine the passenger terminal of the National Transport Commission and the Bastian Mawatha Bus Station.
“Minister C. B. Ratnayake has decided to implement this project with the objective of minimising harassments undergone by passengers at the Bastian Mawatha passenger terminal. He therefore expects the private bus service to improve in ethics and safety, through the implementation of this project”, Private Transport Services Ministry Secretary, Padmasiri Jayamanna said.

“The Minister has also decided to take the necessary steps to provide bus owners and employees who approach the National Transport Commission, with a reliable and an efficient service” he said.

A separate scheme was to be implemented to address the requests put forward to the National transport Commission by bus owners and employees within a certain period of time and measures were also being taken to introduce pre-paid cards in place of the usual bus tickets for private bus services.

“Although the National Transport Commission was given orders to introduce a pre-paid card in place of bus tickets to carry out the private bus service about a year-and-a-half ago, the orders were not carried out. However, the Ministry has now taken the initiative to present a Cabinet paper to implement the prepaid card system”, the Ministry Secretary said.

The introduction of pre-paid cards to replace bus tickets was aided by Mobitel and the People’s Bank of Sri Lanka. (Naduni Jayasinghe)