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New Year gift for commuters: Call 1955 for complaints
View(s):A playlist for buses in the New Year–that is what the National Transport Commission, the industry regulator, has promised commuters, along with a dedicated hotline to gripe about any music that does not take their fancy.
The hotline–1955–will come into effect on January 1. And passengers can complain about drivers who do not stick to a Government-sanctioned playlist of songs during bus journeys.
The list will consist of 1000 “classical songs” in Sinhala, Tamil and Hindi, most of which are decades old, a senior Transport Ministry official said. There are no English songs on the list.
The ballads were selected by a panel of experts comprising professional musicians, artistes and university lecturers. They were picked keeping both long and short distance journeys in mind, the Ministry said.
But commuters can also complain about other things on the 1955 hotline, other than drivers who do not stick to the State-sanctioned music.
“They can call about inappropriate behaviour, conductors not giving the correct change, reckless driving and keeping the bus idling for long periods at bus stops,” the official said.
Authorities have also asked commuters to video incidents of wrongdoing that they see while travelling by bus so that this can be used as evidence during inquiries.
Meanwhile, compact discs containing the Government approved playlist will be distributed among bus owners and drivers during a special ceremony at the Kottawa-Makumbura Multimodal Transport Centre on December 31. Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera will be chief guest.
The Transport Ministry official also clarified that drivers could choose to tune into the radio instead of playing the approved list of songs. “However, they can’t have the music on too loud,” he said. “They need to keep the volume within the approved decibel levels.”