by Dilanthi Jayamanne
The Sri Lanka Private Bus Owners Association(SLPBOA) said yesterday that if the government elected tomorrow is able to reduce the price of diesel within the next few days they would think twice about increasing the price of bus fares. Gamunu Wijeratne President of the SLPBOA said that the rise in diesel prices in April affected the private bus owners badly.

"We will increase our bus fares from December 10. The National Transport Commission(NTC) has given the approval for it. Bus fare will go up by 10 percent to 12 percent from December 10," he said.

The National Transport Commission denied having given approval to increase bus fare.

The President of SLPBOA said that pamphlets will distributed announcing the fare hike to all private bus owners within these few days. "The government elect should be able to bring down the price of diesel to its previous rate, he said.

The bus owners do around 10 to 15 trips within the city alone. Even those owners who have buses which come into the city from its outskirts like Kadawatha, Gampaha and Nittambuwa do around 15 to 20 trips a day starting from 5 a.m. in the morning, Kelum Prasanna a conductor of a private bus which operates from Gampaha said.

Sudath Gamini a private bus owner from Kadawatha said that it was not only the diesel that affected them but also the maintenance of the bus. " The price of spare parts increase from time to time, and we have to pay the driver and the conductor their daily wages. In addition we have to pay finance and face the increasing price of diesel with the fares that are collected during these trips. Its difficult for us. it is certainly not a joke to put a bus on to the road nowadays, he said."

The President of the All Ceylon Private Omnibus Owners Association(ACPOOA) was not available for comment.

At the end of the day it is the commuter who has to bare the brunt, a commuter in a bus queue in route 138 from Kadawatha to Fort said.