Sri Lanka to introduce advanced public transportation system
View(s):As heavy traffic congestion engulfs the city of Colombo, the government is set to improve its public transportation system, Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development Eran Wickramaratne said. Over 500,000 vehicles enter the city daily which was creating air pollution, traffic jams and also causing a loss of much needed man hours, he pointed out. He said the government is now exploring the possibility of introducing Metro systems to enable those living in outstations to travel to Colombo speedily for their work.
Like in some Asian cities, Sri Lanka must introduce smart cards as an integrated system to pay for transportation, Deputy Minister Wickramaratne told the Business Times. By installing GPS systems on buses, the public could keep track of their routes, arrival times and estimated time to destination. This would save people anxiety over bus delays as considerable time is wasted. The introduction of mass transit system is also under consideration along with a suitable public transport system including different systematic tiers of service linked with land use under a single authority, Urban Development Authority (UDA) sources revealed.
The government plans to overhaul the current transportation system, including Colombo’s “very fragmented” bus service, a senior UDA official said. 8,000 buses are operating in Colombo, mostly by private bus owners and studies indicate only around 4,000 busses will be sufficient to run efficiently, he disclosed. The aim of introducing mass transit is to reduce the number of buses further. The government will need to be involved in redeploying and retraining some of those bus operators, he pointed out.
Recently a contract has been signed between the ‘Airport Express – Air & Rail Company (Pvt.) Ltd.’ of Malaysia and the Government of Sri Lanka to start an Electric Train System between Negombo and Colombo. AEARC is spending a sum of around US$5 million to carry out a detailed feasibility report on the whole project. The construction work will be implemented once the green light is obtained for the commencement of the proposed project by the Sri Lankan Government.The proposed project comprises 42 km stretch of rail track between Negombo and Colombo Fort.