Private bus strike to go ahead as planned

Rival union says they will operate their services

Thousands of bus commuters are bound to be inconvenienced today when the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association (LPBOA) carries out its threat to launch a countrywide bus strike as announced earlier.

“We decided to go ahead with the strike as planned because we are well aware that the Private Transport Minister will not agree for a bus fare revision, which has to be implemented this month.

Although the bus fare revision is within the framework of the National Bus Fare Policy, the minister seems determined to block it,” LPBOA President Gemunu Wijerathne said adding that it was a violation of the national policy on bus fares.

He accused the minister and Sri Lanka Transport Board officials of making decisions that affected the entire community of private bus owners, based on their affiliations with a few inter-provincial private bus owners.

“There are only about 3,000 inter-provincial private bus owners but the community of private bus

Although the bus fare revision is within the framework of the Bus Fare Policy, the minister is determined to block it

owners comprises 18,000. The inter-provincial bus owners do what the minister says while SLTB officials are heavily bribed to issue route permits worth millions of rupees,” Mr. Wijeratne said.

He said though the SLTB is well within its rights to approve the present price revision which was approved by the Economic Development Ministry (10% hike), it is baffling as to why it was reluctant to do so.

“We are still undecided about the time span of the strike which will be launched tomorrow. We are urging the government to grant the entitled price revision or if not to acquire the buses we own and pay us the finances because the private transport sector will no longer be profitable if the present situation continues,” Mr. Wijeratne said.

However, Inter Provincial Private Bus Owners Association President Sarath Wijitha Kumara who also held a media briefing yesterday announced they would not take part in the countrywide strike organised by the LPBOA.

“We are not against a price revision and if it is approved, we will also benefit. However, we do not see the present issue of the price revision as adequate reason to launch a strike that will inconvenience the commuters. We have voiced our grievances to the President and we have placed our complete faith in him to provide us with effective sol- utions,” he added.

Meanwhile, Private Transport Services Minister C. B. Ratnayake in a media statement on today’s private bus strike said the trade union action was unreasonable, particularly because the ministry was taking steps to resolve the grievances of the private bus owners as instructed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

“Although the price revision was due to be implemented on July 1, most bus owners and commuters’ associations requested for relief measures to be granted instead. Therefore, we do not think it’s fair to increase prices based on the demands of just one association,” he added.