Cabinet gives nod to cluster bus services

Bus transportation serves as the primary mode of daily passenger travel in Sri Lanka, currently operated by a combination of the Sri Lanka Transport Board and numerous independent private owners.

The existing operational framework leads to issues including intense competition, failure to adhere to schedules, excessive buses on routes, unsafe driving practices, passenger inconvenience, traffic congestion, service imbalances, and inefficient resource utilisation.

Many countries successfully mitigate these challenges through bus sector clustering, which brings services within a single transit corridor or geographical area under integrated management.

By transitioning from individual operations to coordinated service clusters, Sri Lanka aims to improve productivity and address prevailing operational and social problems within the sector.

The Cabinet granted approval to implement a pilot project for clustering along the routes covered by bus numbers 170, 177, and 190.

This initiative will involve relevant stakeholders, and further expansion of the programme depends on the results observed from this initial phase.