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Private bus owners to meet MR
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Private bus owners will meet President Mahinda Rajapakse next week to discuss their concerns, the Private Bus Operators Association (PBOA) said today.
The private bus owners were to go on strike today but the decision was revoked after senior Government officials intervened in the matter. The PBOA’s President Gemunu Wijeyratne said that they are anticipating an increase in bus fares after discussions with the President.
“We hope to discuss all our concerns including the implementation of timetables and bus fares. We expect an increase in diesel prices this year therefore our request to increase bus fares should be accepted,” Wijeyratne said. He said the rate at which bus fares are to be increased will be decided by a commission which recently been formed to look into the matter.
Although the review of bus fares takes place in the month of July each year, Wijeyratne said that they may receive confirmation after the discussion with the President.
Meanwhile Transport Minister, Kumara Welgama said that although private bus owners withdrew their decision to go on strike today at the last minute, there were excess buses on the roads to meet the needs of bus passengers.
“We had prepared ourselves well before private buses were to go on strike and brought in 175 buses from outside the Western Province to meet the demand. In addition to that 40 railway trips were included to accommodate more people. If private buses threaten to strike again we can meet the challenge,” Welgama said. (Olindhi Jayasundere)
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