New reforms including mandatory seat belts for bus drivers proposed

A number of reforms including the installation of GPS and CCTV systems in buses and making seat belts mandatory for bus drivers have been proposed during a stakeholder meeting.  

The special discussion was chaired by Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation, Bimal Ratnayake with the participation of the Chairpersons of the National Transport Commission (NTC), the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), and the relevant Road Passenger Transport Authorities (RPTAs) of the nine provinces.

A number of important decisions were reached regarding improvements to the public transport sector, the Ministry of Transport said. 

The decisions include:

• Early implementation of the integrated timetable on the Puttalam route.

• Starting a pilot project on the 138 bus route under which all buses will be operated under a single association and profit sharing.

• Regularizing the installation of GPS and CCTV for buses.

• Formalizing a methodology for online ticket booking (in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Economy).

• Conducting random drug and alcohol tests on bus drivers.

• Making tickets issued through ticket machines mandatory (within a specified period).

• Preparing specifications for passenger transport buses.

• Making seat belts mandatory for bus drivers.

• Identifying routes for new buses.

• Providing WhatsApp numbers to report faults on all buses (for the NTC, SLTB, and the 9 provinces) and displaying them on buses.

Meanwhile, Minister Ratnayake emphasized that the preliminary work related to the implementation of these decisions should be prepared promptly. 

He also instructed the officials to regularly monitor the progress related to the implementation of these decisions.