President of the Lanka Private Bus Owner’s Association (LPBOA), Gemunu Wijeratne today said that they will take legal action against the Minister of Private Transport Services and the Chairman of the National Transport Commission (NTC) for “ruining” the private bus industry.
He charged that there is no proper process to administer the private bus industry in the country and that at least the schedule system cannot be implemented correctly.
Although the LPBOA accepts the 7% increase in bus fares from November 1, he stated that the fares should be increased by 12%.
Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo today (13), he attacked the relevant authorities for deciding on the revision without consulting private bus unions and said it still unclear how they had calculated the percentage to only 7 per cent.
Wijeratne stated that the bus fare hike should have come into effect from the month of July this year and that the industry had incurred losses totaling to around Rs 25 million per day due to the delay.
Accordingly the losses incurred so far exceed Rs 3,000 million, he said, adding, that this has caused great difficulties to bus owners.
