Galle Road bus lane wins commuter support

New traffic rules confining buses to specific lanes on Galle Road, Colombo have won the admiration of bus and car passengers while reducing travel time and driver stress.

The dedicated bus lane rule on the road between Moratuwa and Ratmalana (Maliban junction) and Wellawatte to Kollupitiya implemented over the past two weeks, according to Prof. Amal Kumarage from the University of Moratuwa, has worked well.

Preliminary survey results show that bus travel time (Moratuwa to Kollupitiya) has been reduced to 23 minutes from 30 minutes earlier. Commuters have also reported that bus drivers are less aggressive, better behaved and less tooting the horn.

In the case of cars, there hasn’t been any change in the time of 21 minutes to travel this distance. However, drivers have reported that they are less stressful (with bus drivers not cutting into their lanes), and there is less stop-and-go traffic flows.

Acknowledged as the country’s top transportation specialist, Prof. Kumarage a Senior Professor of the Dept. of Transport and Logistics Management at the University of Moratuwa and is leading a team of eight government agencies including the Police, municipalities and the Road Development Authority that is supervising this new scheme. A more comprehensive study of the dedicated bus lanes is to be finalised soon.