The Bus Fuss
Data via the Central Bank
Sri Lanka’s public transit is neglected and mad messed. Generations ago they tried to fix this by privatizing buses, but there was so much rent-seeking and regulation that this also didn’t work out well. The buses are ancient, race around, and don’t serve the need.
Me, personally, I was happy to see the government import actual city buses but I have never caught one in the course of a normal day. Hence I was more happy to hear that they’re going to import 3,000 more.
However, this hasn’t made the private bus operators happy and they’re threatening a strike. I understand their sentiments here, but they shouldn’t be protesting to keep better buses out, they should be protesting to drop the regulations and price fixing that makes it impossible for them to bring the advantages of the private sector to bear – AKA, variable pricing, innovation, etc.
What’s happened is that the private bus operators have become a sort of entrenched special interest that just wants their pittance preserved. However, I do think public transit has to be led by the public sector. I mean, just import the buses and run them. Over 50% of Colombo commuters come by bus and it sucks. Please please modernize this sector.
Open up opportunities for private bus operators, heck, I’d like to run an airport bus, but don’t hold the public sector back. If you look at the graph above, public bus capacity hasn’t increased at all, it’s actually gone down. The SLTB runs an average of 4,365 buses per day, down from 4,599 in 2003. But it’s not like need has gone down. Indeed, we need buses for everyone, not just the people who can’t afford cars. Thankfully the government has imported a few, but I only see them passing by. I sincerely hope they’ll import more such that I can actually take one.
For a video of how I think the bus service should be, check this out.
Posted on Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 in Business, Sri Lanka, transport.
Mohsin Hamid, author of How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia, has a nice 
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I won’t add too much commentary, but just read I guess. The youngest Rajapaksa, Rohitha (Chi Chi) has given an amazing interview to the 
In 2009 this strange character appeared on the Sri Lankan Internet scene, getting angry, flaming, trolling whatever. Then he started naming anonymous bloggers, posting comments as people’s kids, nasty stuff, for which I removed him from 
Everyone likes to import buses. I have my theories on why.
But just take a look along the roads at any offpeak time. There are enormous numbers of parked buses. Buses, buses everywhere; but not one to take me when I want to where I want, is the short explanation of bus sector in LK.
The private operators have a point. There is an over supply of buses in Sri Lanka. Without rationalizaton, centered on actually enforced time tables, the sector cannot be fixed. 3000 new buses will definitely not help.
But the old buses really suck. They spew fumes, they’re quite uncomfortable, and many are just a metal shell with perfunctory seats. I caught one of the new buses once and it was amazing. That’s the type of transport even middle-class people could prefer over cars, if there was just more of it.
Just simply adding 3000 buses to a dysfunctional system will not do any good. It is necessary to fix the system (e.g., get a reasonable fare structure; ensure time tables are respected) before (or at least at the same time as ) new buses are brought in.
If the current buses are no good you need a rational procedure for retiring them. In many cases, the bus is the principal assets of the owner (most private operators have 1-5 buses). You can’t suddenly change the rules and expropriate his investment.
I hate to open another can of worms, but I will. Adding new buses to the present dysfunctional system is not different to giving all university teachers an across-the-board pay raise without fixing at least some parts of the dysfunctional university system.
the thing about the parked buses- its this devil-may-care attitude of everyone involved in the system. The most sensible thing to do during off-peak hours is to divert the buses to routes which need more, distribute the resources around the area as needed. Thin is, no one cares, and i doubt there’re people in the government that can handle the logistics involved. On top of that, the private buses will just go into a strike.
I came across a quote from the mayor of Bogota on the TEDxGateway Facebook page. It said: “A developed country is not one where poor people have cars, but one where the rich take public transport”. How’s that for an aspiration!
Excuse me, but was it you who said you love loved going in Colombo buses enjoying the view and all??? You actually take the bus to work, right??? So, now you are saying it ”sucks”. So, what is it man??? You go in the bus knowing that it sucks???? Or you just found that out yesterday???? Are you trying to prove something that we are not aware of???? Are you practicing some weird form of simple living???
Yeah, I’m on the Dehiwala bus now. This thing is falling apart, from the loud and sclerotic engine to the torn upholstery. It actually looks like there was a fire in here. I can’t even tell what color things used to be. We need new buses.
Maybe Gota should be given the responsibility of looking after the buses?
yeah, i’d like to get down at my house, not at CID/TID HQ :P
Couldn’t they use the buses to provide a decent regular bus service to rural areas, where people would otherwise have to walk for miles to get to the nearest school, hospital or market? They’d have to maintain at least one motorable road, of course. The revenue wouldn’t be great, but the benefits to the community would be many.
I would have thought that there already was in existence at least one committee report with recommendations regarding the issues facing universities. Not so?
[...] fairly ordinary stuff, but it isn’t. I’ve talked about the need for new buses and the resistance from some entrenched interests before. This is an example of something actually [...]