Bus fares can rise every six months

The Transport Ministry’s permission was sought by private bus owners to increase fares every six months despite Friday's revision. After discussions were held between the Ministry of Transport and private bus owners, a 4.6% increase on bus fares was agreed upon and came into affect on Friday pushing even the minimum distance ticket to Rs.6.

Even though the annual bus fare revision is calculated in July, bus operators claim that according to an agreement with the government they have the authority to raise fares within the year if fuel prices rise by 4%. President of the Private Bus Owners’ Association (PBOA), Gemunu Wijeyratne told The Sunday Times that fuel prices had increased by nearly 13.5 % since the last bus fare hike and had prompted the PBOA to request the Ministry of Transport for an untimely bus fare hike.

“Private bus owners cannot wait till the annual increase to raise the fares because the fuel prices and the cost of living have become unbearable within the past few months,” he said. He said that the Minister of Transport, Dallas Alahapperuma had also promised to look into other requests made by the PBOA including joint timetables, prevention of bribery and faults in the National Transport Policy.

“Even though fares were hiked this week, we will calculate the annual price revision in July as it is a requirement in the agreement we have with the government,’ he said. He said that the PBOA had also requested to change the annual fare revision to one every six months although they had not yet received an answer from the government.

Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Nihal Somaweera said that the government will not deviate from the current agreement as it is unnecessary to do so.“There is no need to change the annual revision to one every year simply because the private bus operators have the power to increase bus fares at any time if the fuel prices increase dramatically,” he said.

He said that the National Transport Commission was also looking into the bus operators’ request to maintain joint timetables with the government buses. Meanwhile, train fares will be raised as soon as the government formulates a suitable fare structure.

Mr. Somaweera said that the government is already looking into creating a pricing formula for train fares.“The government has extended a lot of financial support for the development of railway infrastructure while addressing problems such as overloading and safety within the railway transportation system,” he said.

He said that the train fares had not been increased in almost five years and had caused many commuters to switch from buses to trains causing heavy passenger overloading as well as costly repairs for train carriages.