Letters to the Editor

2nd June 1996


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Import 155-seater double deckers to reduce

overcrowding in buses

The sight of overladen buses is too familiar to be overlooked. The passengers are pushed in and in and in, until they are suffocated and when that is finished they are forced to keep on mounting the foot board, each clinging on to the bus with just one hand and with just one foot perched on the foot board. This is a disgraceful state of affairs and points to the amount of suffering the passengers are undergoing. In Sri Lanka there is only land transport, steamer and air transport not being pioneered into . In land transport one has to think of buses and trains.

The buses on all the routes are too small to cope with the huge crowd that is hopelessly trying to get in. Another result arising from the smallness of the buses is that, for a given road space and the given volume of crowd, the number of buses occupying that road space is too many. This increase of buses on the road gives rise to congestion of the road, which then causes delay and creates a vicious circle of crowding, congestion and delay and back again to further delay, congestion and crowding, and so on. The average number of passengers including the bulging human cargo carried by these small buses, is around 60 which is uneconomical in every way. To use the available road space more efficiently, the number of passengers carried by each bus has to be increased considerably. This target can be achieved by using higher capacity buses. There are buses manufactured with this end in view. I am referring to the 155 seater double decked buses manufactured in countries like China, England and Sweden. Even it ca n be ordered to this specification from India or China. These type of buses are used by countries like China and Hong Kong and I have travelled in them myself with perfect satisfaction. For the same road space carrying about 60 passengers you can carry about three times the number by using the 155 seaters. When you use such buses the turnaround of those buses is quicker, the road becomes much freer and the disposal of the passengers is faster. To start with you can use these high-capacity buses on the four arterial routes like the following:

Colombo-Kandy (or Kadawata) run;

Colombo-Galle (or Panadura) run;

Colombo-Negombo (or Katunayaka) run;

Colombo-Avisawella (or Homagama) run.

Other routes can be added on later.

These 155 seater buses are the double-decker type with double rear axles and each axle fitted with four wheels. The number of seats would be 155 but with a few standing in the lower deck the number could be around 165. The passengers travel unencumbered, seated and in freer comfort, as good as that of a car. There is no need for clamour for seats, no overflowing passengers on the foot board, no stench or odour from the jostling neighbours, no threat of pick-pockets, and no man-handling of the females b y the sex perverts. One cannot say that these high capacity buses are too big for the roads in Sri Lanka because even at present the 40-foot container trailers ply on much smaller roads. If certain roads are smaller, the remedy is not avoiding the use of bigger buses but making the roads wider to suit the bigger buses.

Though there are assurances for the road network to be increased and certain roads widened with a view to accommodating more number of the existing type of smaller buses, these are not likely to happen in our lifetime. With the network of roads existing as it is, the only thing that can be improved with the minimum capital expenditure and as a matter of urgency, is to invest in the 155-seater capacity bigger buses. As it is the smaller type of buses are continually being imported to increase and replace the existing fleet. What I am trying to say is, instead of these buses being all of the smaller type get the required number of the bigger 155-seater double-decked ones also, which can be used on the four arterial routes. From 1948 governments come and go but the transport system keeps on deteriorating. There is a limit to the number of buses being put on the roads, because there are other users also.

M.S.M. Marzook,

Colombo 6.

Credibility of the UN

A feature writer in one of the morning dailies has hit the nail on the head when he says that the UN is now controlled by a set - mainly two - of 'arrogant fools'. No truer word has been spoken about this body sometimes said to consist of the 'Lords of Poverty.'

It is ironic that one of the fools, whilst having the means to spend billions on fruitless military and political adventures all over the world is the greatest debtor to the U.N. It was reported recently that this country heads the debtor list to the U.N., owing over 1.5 billion dollars out of a total of 2.5 billion due as membership fees. The U.N. on this account is reportedly heading for bankruptcy in the near future. All this is a clear case of 'Clean Suit Empty Pocket' as the Sri Lankan saying goes.< /P>

When will some country or group of countries have the guts to call this defaulter to pay up all arrears or face expulsion from the U.N.? That will be the day.

Hawk Eye,

Colombo 5

Those off-season locals

I regret to have to send this letter to you because your newspaper has always been supportive of us, and we in turn have been supportive of you, by way of advertisements.

It is unfortunate that an article under the heading "Now it's time for off season locals" in your paper of 12th May, contained some inaccuracies about our company and one of our hotels - Triton.

1. Your reporter claims to have spoken to our marketing manager. We have no one with such a designation at Aitken Spence Hotel Managements Ltd. Furthermore, it appears that no executive or manager from the company gave an interview, either personally or over the phone.

2. Contrary to what was stated in the article, hotel Triton does offer special discount packages. What is more, such packages have been given throughout last year.

3. In recent times, we have offered special incentives to Visa credit card holders through the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank. We also offer special rates to companies for their conferences, outings, incentives, and finally we have our regular week-end packages.

4. The statement that it's a lot more profitable to accommodate tourists than locals was definitely not made by us. Furthermore, it casts an untrue and unfair impression of our overall policy and practice. The fact is that we not only welcome local clientele, we do all we can to encourage them. This happens throughout the year. For instance, right now we are offering special rates to Sri Lankans to visit our resorts in the Maldives, even though there is no dearth of foreign tourists in that country.

We will appreciate very much if you will give the right picture of hotel Triton to your readers by way of a correction, or article in your very readable and popular newspaper as early as possible.

Ms. Wathsala Wijesekera,

Manager - Sales.
Aitken Spence Management (Pvt.) Ltd.

Please stop splitting hairs over traditional words

I am rather amused and fascinated by the consistent campaign launched by many persons claiming to be human rights activists and liberators of the feminine sex. Wherever a document is drafted they digress and distract the discussion by insisting on using "he/she" instead of "he" although the law of the land clearly states that wherever he appears it includes she and every law passed by Parliament incorporates only he.

What these female liberators should clearly bear in mind is that words and expressions in any language should not be taken literally but in a historical and traditional sense. For example, over the years the word Chairman has come to mean the person occupying the chair, although I presume in the distant past only men occupied the chair. To change this traditional word to Chairwoman, (if a lady occupies the chair) is in my opinion incorrect and wrong. For example, the word Mayoress does not refer to a lad y Mayor but to the mayor's spouse/companion. I attended a reception given by the Mayor of Hull in UK a few years ago and noted with interest that the lady who held that post proudly called herself the Mayor while her daughter who accompanied the Mayor and also welcomed the guests was referred to as Mayoress. Any other interpretation given to the word Mayor and Mayoress would be an incorrect usage of the English language. In the Sri Lankan context, this would similarly apply to the words Director, Post Maste r etc.

When University degrees were first awarded by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge the recipients were (unmarried) members of the clergy, who were debarred from getting married even in the future, and they were referred to as Bachelors of Arts (BA)Ó. Over several centuries this same expression has been used not only at Oxbridge but also in other Universities in all countries. The word Bachelor has now come to refer, in this context, to one who has reached a certain standard of education fit enough to be conferred a first degree. It obviously does not refer to only an unmarried man ! At the way our human right activists and female liberators are going, they might even make the ludicrous demand that depending on the sex and civil status of the recipient, these degrees be called, inter alia, Spinster of Arts (SA) or even Man of Arts"! Master of Science may have to be changed to Mistress of Science for women ! How absurd but there could be no limit to the demands of these self-styled women liberators.

Let all of us wake up and take note. Let us resist this ridiculous campaign of so-called women liberators who are trying to split hairs over traditional words and expressions, which over many centuries of continuous use, have assumed a definite Non sexist meaning. There are many more problems and issues for us to attend to, particularly in a developing country like Sri Lanka. Let Chairman and Bachelor remain as they are for many more years to come.

Prof. J.N.O. Fernando

Dean/Science
The Open University of Sri Lanka

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