SLTB chief sees improvement in commuter discipline

Transport sector strictly follows health guidelines

The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) used only part of its more than 4500-strong fleet this week, because the number of commuters was less than expected, Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said.

He noted drivers and conductors had not reported many issues this week, though there were some problems with commuters not following social distancing guidelines in the beginning when the number of passengers in a bus was limited to half the number of seats. In most buses, this meant that only about 25 passengers could travel at one time.

He said there were problems when people jostled to get in for the few available seats. This problem had been somewhat sorted out by the middle of the week with the health authorities beginning to monitor the buses to ensure that they carried passengers according to the number of seats, he said.

Authorities also allowed licensed taxi services to transport passengers in Colombo and Gampaha to and from work this week.

PickMe Chief Executive Officer Zulfer Jiffry said they were operating a reduced number of vehicles in the curfew-hit Colombo and Gampaha districts owing to the less number of travellers. Mr Jiffry said drivers had been instructed to adhere strictly to health guidelines, such as social distancing, wearing masks and gloves and carrying a limited number of passengers as instructed by police.

He added that drivers’ temperatures were regularly checked and customers, when log into the app, could note the temperature of the driver taken within the past 24 to 48 hours. “We are also installing separators in our vehicles to prevent the virus spreading from driver to passengers or from passengers to drivers,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) deployed 10 office trains from outstations throughout this week for the benefit of those travelling to Colombo for work, with the same 10 trains departing from Colombo Fort and Maradana stations each evening.

While this arrangement was employed during the first two days, by Wednesday, SLR allowed public and private sector employees who had not reserved seats to board the trains at specific stations en route to Colombo, subject to availability of seats. This was after health authorities agreed to allow buses and trains to carry passengers based on the number of seats available. Earlier in the week, the number of passengers buses and trains could transport had been limited to 50% of total seating capacity. SLR would continue to give priority to employees who reserve railway seats, General Manager Dilantha Fernando told the Sunday Times. He added that depending on the lists of the number of employees heading for work, they may increase the number of office trains next week. “We are also allowing those who don’t have a seat reserved to board a train from railway stations by showing their service identity card, but this is strictly subject to availability of seats on each train,” he stressed. (See related copy on Page 10)