Park & Ride, E-ticketing system from Jan 1 :State Minister of Transport

Programme to be launched from Makumbura MTC

By Chaturanga Samarawickrama   

While implementing the ‘Park & Ride’ system, the Transport Ministry is to introduce the ‘E-ticketing’ system for buses from January 1, State Minister of Transport Dilum Amunugama said.   

Addressing the media at an event in Kandy he said the first service of the Park & Ride system would be launched from the Makumbura Multi-modal Transport Centre (MTC). “The Park & Ride system is a method  implemented for people to engage in their day-to-day activities without entering the Colombo City driving their vehicles, ” he said.   
“The people who come to the Colombo City by their vehicles can use the allocated parking areas. Thereafter, they may use the air-conditioned luxury bus service to reach the city and return to their parking place after attending to their work,” the State Minister said.   

This system had been designed to run a city-bus every 15 minutes, he said. “ We have removed one row of seats in each bus to have more space. These buses have been applied with chemical paint which is resistant to COVID-19 virus. once the virus come into contact on the surface of these buses, the virus will be destroyed,” he said.   
“Also, these buses have been provided with wifi facilities and GPS tracking facilities. A mobile application has been launched to locate the arrival of the next bus on the system,” Minister Amunugama said.   
“The Ministry had also decided to introduce E-ticketing system, so that there would be no necessity to use currency bills on the buses,” he said.   

“The IGP has also informed to arrest crew members of buses transporting passengers more than the seating capacity under the Covid-19 bus fare revision and would file legal action against them,” the State Minister added.