Private bus owners' association express fear over introduction of pre-paid cards

Colombo: A private bus owners’ association has expressed fear over the introduction of pre-paid card system for passenger transport.

The secretary of the All Lanka Federation of Private Bus Owners’ Associations Anjana Priyanjith says that the system will risk the employment of the conductors of private buses aggravating the unemployment crisis further.

However, another association that promotes the idea of introducing pre-paid cards and ticketing machines say that the system will prevent corruption and loss of money to the bus owners. The pre-paid system will improve the service standards of the bus conductors instead of creating job loss, they point out.

However, the All Lanka Federation of Private Bus Owners’ Association says that there may be a racket of commissions behind the move. They say that a private bus association and a senior official of the National Transport Commission are behind the racket. (Colombo Page)