செய்தி

According to the proposal of the Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, a program was held at the government news department auditorium to present appointment letters to the new drivers and conductors who were recruited for the vacancies in the Sri Lanka Transport Board under special cabinet approval.

On this occasion, appointment letters were presented to 24 novice drivers and 36 conductors who had completed their training.

The minister speaking on this occasion said that in the current situation faced by the country, it is not possible to make any recruitment for the public service for the next three years. According to the guidance of the International Monetary Fund for debt restructuring, a program of self-retirement of redundant employees of some public service organizations is currently being implemented.

This situation has arisen due to the provision of jobs in the public sector from time to time due to short-sighted political reasons. But as a government, it is no longer possible to act like that. According to the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund, we have to implement a long-term program to pay off the debt we have acquired until 100 years after independence.Accordingly, we have to pay off 37% of the loans we have taken in the next five years, 51% between 6 and 20 years and another 12% after that. No matter which party is in power, these conditions must be fulfilled. Without that, it is no longer possible to run governments by telling lies to the people.

In such a situation, due to the fact that people are more and more inclined towards public transport,  the need for public transportation is growing day by day. Due to this, it is considered a special opportunity to be able to give these new appointments to the Sri Lanka Transport Board with a special Cabinet approval. However, in completing the goals given to the institution, the rules related to fraud, corruption and irregularities have to be strictly enforced.

For the sake of the welfare of the institution's staff, attention has now been paid to providing insurance to all the employees, which has not been implemented before. We are also planning to prepare a program to return a part of the profits of the institution to the employees of the institution in the future with the collective efforts of everyone.

Sri Lanka Transport Board Chairman Mr. Lalith de Alwis, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Mahesh Kulathilaka, Deputy General Manager (Running) Mr. PandukaSwarnahansa and others attended this event.

After the modernization work of the Anuradhapura to Omantai railway rehabilitation project of the Northern Railway line, which is under construction, a special observation trip on the modernized railway line was started before starting the train journey from Anuradhapura again,  under the patronage of the Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena,.

An M 11 locomotive and a set of air-conditioned luxury modern carriages had been put on operation for this run to test the running suitability of the modernized track to enable the train to run at a speed of 100 km per hour.

Member of Parliament Mr. Jayantha Katagoda, General Manager of Railways W.A.D.S. Gunasinghe, representatives of the Indian Ircon Company carrying out the construction, and officials of the Railway Department were present for this observation.

In coincidence with the 75th independence commemoration, in order to strengthen public transport services on rural roads in Sri Lanka, under the program of adding 500 new buses into operation by the Sri Lanka Transport Board, 24 new buses were put into operation on rural roads in the Jaffna area. It was done in Jaffna under the patronage of Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, Under this program, 32 new buses have been distributed in two phases to 7 depots of the SLTB northern regional office.

The minister speaking on this occasion said that the government led by the President is working to provide equal facilities for the North and East regions as same as those given for all the provinces of the country. Over the past three years, people have faced many hardships due to various reasons. Because of that, the demand for public transport services has increased greatly. Therefore, the government has the responsibility to further develop those services. But the government is facing a big challenge in providing the capital expenditure required for the same.

Despite such difficulties, we are happy that 32 new buses have been deployed under the Indian loan scheme for the convenience of the people in these areas. For that, we express our special thanks to the Government of India and the High Commissioner and other officials.

Minister of Fisheries, Hon. Douglas Devananda, Member of Parliament Hon. Jayantha Katagoda, Member of Parliament, Hon. Ishak Rahman, officials of the Indian High Commission, Chairman of Sri Lanka Transport Board Mr. Lalith de Alwis, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Mahesh Kulathilaka and other officials, local political representatives, local residents and a large group of people attended this event.

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.