New route permits for 106 buses     October 08 2010]

By Gamini Warusamanne  

Transport Minister Kumara Welgama said that bus service between Colombo and main towns in the North and Eastern provinces are being regulated. Accordingly the National Transport Commission has issued route permits for 106 buses which are already operating without permits between Colombo and Jaffna, he said at a media briefing held in Colombo today.

Government did not intervene to regulate the bus service to Jaffna and other cities of the North and East because, there were lot of issues and the operators started service under difficult conditions. We did not want to discourage the transport system started immediately after the winning of the war. However, today those issues have been addressed and now we want to solve the issues faced by the commuters and improve the quality of the service, Minister said.

Permits have been offered following tender procedure and at the lowest bid of Rs.1, 100,000 per bus per month. In addition to these private buses SLTB operates buses between Colombo and Jaffna.

In the future all buses services bound to Jaffna and other North East towns should start the journey from Central Bus Terminal in Bastion Street Colombo, he said.