Super luxury highway bus fare to be reduced

Commuters will benefit immensely while the National Transport Commission (NTC) will lose millions from July 1, 2018 onwards when Super Luxury buses plying between Matara and Colombo on the Southern Expressway will reduce the fare to Rs.460, said Anura Halapage, Chairman of the Matara Passenger Transport Company (MPTC). He made the statement speaking at a press briefing held at the Matara Rest House yesterday (3))
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Super Luxury Highway bus operators have been hard-hit as there has been a drastic drop in the number of commuters traveling on the
Matara-Colombo, Matara-Maharagama, Matara-Kadawatha, and Matara- Panadura routes after the government increased the bus fares by 12.5% at midnight on May 22. As a result, there has been a steep rise in the Expressway Super Luxury fare. Under the new fare, scheme became effective from midnight on May 22, the fare between Colombo and Matara which was Rs.530 has risen to Rs.600 while the fare between Matara and Maharagama has seen a Rs.60 increase to Rs.560. “The commuters can’t afford to pay such high fares and have opted to use normal service or the railway, Mr Halapage reiterated

He also said that the government charges exorbitant amounts from operators of super luxury bus services on the Southern Expressway in the guise of route permits, licensing fees and toll-gate charges. According to Mr Halapage, an owner of a luxury bus plying on the Southern Expressway have to pay a sum between 13 million rupees and 22 million rupees to the National Transport Commission each year. This is in addition to the toll charge of Rs.1550 per trip.

“All of us have route permits to ply between Colombo and Matara and vice versa. The interprovincial service fare between Colombo and
Matara after the recent  12.5% fare hike is Rs 460. Our membership has decided to charge commuters only this fare and bear the expressway toll-gate fare  and not pay the NTC,” he said.

Text and Pictures by P D De Silva 

 

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