Private bus owners said today that they will increase bus fares by 15%
even if they do not get the approval of the National Transport
Commission (NTC) adding that bus owners have the legal authority to do
so although the NTC has stated otherwise.
Bus fare increases are usually decided by the NTC with the agreement of
bus owners and other relevant transport authorities. However, Private
Bus Owners Association President, Gemunu Wijeyratne said that neither
the provisions of the National Transport Commission Act nor the
Provincial Transport Authorities Act states that the NTC has the
authority in deciding bus fare amendments.
“The NTC continuously says that it is only they who can make amendments
to the bus fares but they are wrong. We have given the NTC and the
Ministry time till the end of May to make a decision on the matter. If
the NTC does not, then we shall increase the bus fares by 15% without
its support,” Wijeyratne said.
He said the association has sought legal advice on the matter and
challenged the NTC to take the association to court if it wished to do
so. He said a bus fare increment was necessary as no amendments have
been made in one and a half years and said that private bus owners would
provide their bus services for free if the authorities provided the
fuel.
“More than Rs.5500 is allocated to run one SLTB bus each day. If the
authorities give us the necessary diesel we shall provide are services
without charging the passengers,” he said.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/11309-private-bus-fare-hike.html
Posted on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 @ 02:34:30 LKT
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