Over 30,000 private bus operators withdrew from services: Gemunu

More than 30,000 private bus operators have withdrawn from the services due to imposed travel restrictions in the country, Lanka Private Bus Operators' Association (LPBOA) Chairman Gemunu Wijeratne said.

He told the Daily Mirror that 75% (nearly 15,000 buses) of the private buses are unable to get on to the road because they had been parked for nearly a month.

"Most of the drivers and conductors who had lost their livelihood, have gone in search of other means of earning. Many of them have cultivated their own of earning for living. No relief has been granted by the government as yet.

Notwithstanding that several buses are back on the roads after the reopening of the country are driven and managed by the owners.

"The bus operators express anguish as to what would their fate be, if the country would go to another lockdown again. They say that they have no job security. Most of them are suspicious about the government's actions," Mr. Wijerathne said.

Nearly 5,000 buses need repairs and it would cost nearly Rs.50,000 and another 10,000 buses have to be repaired at a cost of about Rs. 100,000 or so, before they hit the roads. Without generating any income, there is no way of repairing these buses, he said.

Therefore, it is unable to resume transport services as the government wanted to, he added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)