What happens to our bus services at night?

As early as eight-to-nine p.m., one can see so many people walking for miles at night on Colombo streets. This is because there are no buses plying even on some of the major routes. If this is the situation in Colombo, it must be worse out of Colombo and  in distant areas. 

138 Pettah-Maharagama-Homagama and 176 Hettiyawatta-Karagampitiya-Nugegoda, 120 Pettah-Piliyandala-Horana are among the busiest routes during the day, with buses racing each other. But come night, the traffic thins out and disappears altogether. After 10-11 p.m. travellers would be lucky to find a bus. Those travelling along the Colombo-Kandy road or along Galle Road may find a long distance bus (Kandy or Matara) but those on other routes have no option but to walk miles and miles as three-wheeler taxi fares are very high. This is not an option for the aged, the sick and the physically disabled.

103 and 144 (Rajagiriya-fort) are two very busy and popular routes but there are no buses at all by eight p.m. People walking all the way to Pettah from Rajagiriya are a common sight at night. The  SLTB which maintains a skeletal night bus service has vanished from these routes at night, and all private buses can be found parked along the road at Borella and Rajagiriya, their crews chatting and drinking. 

The 190  Pettah-Godagama SLTB bus was a lifesaver for many at 12.20 am. The bus comes crowded but there was always a sizeable crowd at Borella for this last bus. But this crowd has disappeared  because this service is now irregular. The government got busy ‘correcting’ the bus service by removing unnecessary and dangerous appliances as soon as it came to power. It should put the same energy into providing even a semblance of a night bus service. 

There are hundreds of buses languishing in SLTB depots due to lack of spares. It can revive the Werahera workshop by modernising it to serve the nation’s crying need for a better bus service. Or have the comrades forgotten what our bus services are like? 

Stranded bus passenger