Limited buses on roads due to shortage of diesel

Private bus operations countrywide will be limited with effect from today (June 06) owing to the current fuel shortage, Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association Chairman Gemunu Wijeratne said yesterday.

Addressing a media briefing, President of the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association Gemunu Wijeratne said bus services will be limited to 1/3rd of its operations with 5,000 buses due to operate from today.

Wijeratne said buses in the Mannar, Vavuniya, Gampaha, Kegalle, Polonnaruwa, Mawanaella, Badulla, and Puttalam areas have not received diesel from Sri Lanka Transport Board-owned depots.

He added relevant authorities and the Minister of Energy have failed in carrying out their duties.

“We maintained services with great difficulty during the past couple of weeks out of our concern for the students who sat for the GCE Ordinary level exam. We regret that we cannot continue to maintain services to that level though the schools commenced. We are facing a serious situation because nearly half of the buses are waiting in diesel queues. There are around 20,000 private buses in the country and of them fewer than 8,000 buses operated during before and after the examination so that children could travel to examination centres and return home.” Wijeratne said.