No bus fare increase: Shashi Welgama; Increase bus fare by 10% within two weeks: Gemunu

Colombo, Feb 1 (Daily Mirror) - National Transport Commission Chairman, Shashi Welgama said today that there is no provision to increase bus fares even though the price of diesel has increased by Rs. 5.

He said that according to the existing laws and agreements on bus fares, it is not possible to increase fares at this time, and no one has made a request to increase the bus fares so far.

Meanwhile, considering yesterday's and previous fuel price revisions, the private bus associations have incurred a total loss of Rs. 22, which cannot be afforded, and therefore a bus fare revision is a must this time, Lanka Private Bus Owners' Association (LPBOA) Chairman Gemunu Wijerathne said.

Every time fuel price revisions had taken place, as responsible bus associations, we have worked according to the national bus fare policy while bearing our losses.

"But this time we have to bear the total loss of Rs. 22, and therefore, we have decided to increase the fare within the next two weeks if our four conditions are fulfilled.

"According to this bus fare, it is a three percent increase, and we need another one percent to increase the bus fare within the framework of the national bus fare policy. We experience a huge impact with the newly imposed VAT. The price of a new bus has increased beyond what we can imagine, but no action has been taken by the government to grant us a concession. The spare parts, lubricants and service charges have also increased," he said.

"We are meeting the Transport Ministry Secretary today to discuss our issues. If we do not get any favorable concerns, we will increase the bus fare by 10 percent within two weeks. If we can't do it regularly, we will raise bus fares with our full strength, and then the minimum bus fare will be Rs. 35," he said.