Introduction of the Sri Lanka Transport Board’s long-distance bus timetables into the internet search system took place today under the patronage of Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, the Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media.

With this initiative, passengers can easily access this service on the 1315.lk website and through the 1315.lk mobile application from today. Thus, passengers have the facility to plan their travel needs in advance in a more convenient way.

Further, by accessing the 1315.lk website and the 1315.lk mobile application, it is possible to select and reserve the seat of one’s choice and through this, one can reserve passenger seats on the buses traveling towards the destinations all over the island. Sltb.eseat.lk or 1315.lk is Sri Lanka's largest website where all facilities including real time passenger seat reservation and passenger transport information are available at one place.The service, which can be accessed through both the web and app media, has been designed with a user-friendly interface. Due to this, users also have the opportunity to have seats reserve according to the seat design of the vehicle. After reserving seats, the e-ticket will be sent to the user in advance through SMS and email, so the service can be obtained in a short period of time without any unnecessary hassles even during busy hours.Also, after allocating the seats, the user will get the information about the bus departure time and location in advance, so it will be possible to board the bus from a convenient place and travel comfortably in the reserved seat until the destination.

In addition to the website, this service can also be obtained through the counters set up at over 40 main bus stations across the island, as well as by calling the 1315 hotline. This hotline is a 24-hour service offered in the 3 languages, and possibility of obtaininginformation about bus travel services, seat reservation and coordination with the conductor at any time is another special facility provided through this.

All operational activities such as seat reservation system help desk and daily reservations are a program that has been successfully tested and confirmed on selected buses and counters for over 9 months under the supervision of SLTB.

As a whole, through this service, passengers will have the opportunity to experience the convenience of a transport service with high transparency and accountability, reducing inconvenience and hassles, facilitating a comfortable travel to the destination. Another feature of this service is the ability to make online transactions without using physical money. And all cash transactions here are credited to a SLTB bank account. It is also possible to deem that this type of introduction leads to  popularization of online transactions in the country, and many valuable benefits will be provided to the country's economy through it. Passengers' opinions have also been given a room in this seat reservation service, thereby enabling continuous improvement of the service.In the future, it is expected to be developed as a center that deliversg many more services and it will be integrated for other modes of transportation as well.

Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena who spoke on this occasion, said that as another step in the concept of digitizing the transport sector, this program to convert the seat reservation and timetables of the buses of the Sri Lanka Transport Board to the online system has a special importance.

With this initiative, the passengers will have the facility of obtaining specific and clear information and making seat reservations to enjoy planned and systematic travel facilities. We are working to introduce e-ticketing and e-motoring services to the transportation sector in a short period of time as a step forward of this program which is being done as an initial step of digitization.

The long-term goal of this service is to bring this service closer to the people in the future as a more complete service by including more buses and road systems in the transportation system, and to make public transportation a part of the commuters' daily commute.

I believe that through this, the organization will have the ability to reach a profitable state in a short period of time by reducing corruption and irregularities in the transportation sector.

Sri Lanka Transport Board Chairman Mr. Lalith de Alwis, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Mahesh Kulathilaka, Deputy General Manager (Running) Mr. PandukaSwarnahansa and a group of officials were present for this event.