The Transport and Civil Aviation Ministry with the Ministries of Megapolis and Finance will introduce a new ‘Park and Ride’ service to transport people to Colombo by luxury buses instead of their private vehicles.
The SLTB intends initially to deploy 650 luxury buses to facilitate commuters travelling daily to Colombo from suburban, Deputy Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Ashok Abeysinghe told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
The SLTB will deploy luxury buses from Kochchikade, Minuwangoda, Yakkala, Hanwella, Kirindiwela, Godagama and Aluthgama. Vehicle parks will be set up in these areas to enable people to park their vehicles and travel to Colombo by luxury buses, he said. The Deputy Minister said “now we are in the process of formulating this program and identifying the areas to launch this luxury bus service. We will also have to import these buses. These luxury buses will operate without a conductor. A card which is valid for a period of one month will be introduced for those who travel in these luxury buses. The vehicle parking charge will also be added to this card.”
If somebody wants to join this luxury bus service in between, we hope to introduce a taxi service to transport them to these buses, he said.