Sri Lanka to continue subsidising loss-making rural bus routes

Sri Lanka will continue subsidising bus services on commercially unviable rural routes, with the Government treating access to public transport as an essential service rather than judging routes solely on profitability, Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Dr Prasanna Gunasena said.

Gunasena said some remote communities did not have enough passengers to make regular bus services commercially viable, particularly early in the morning and late at night.

However, the Government could not abandon such routes simply because they operated at a loss, he said.

“The President’s view is that transport should be considered in a similar way to health and education,” Gunasena said.

“When we allocate money to health or education, we do not look only at whether they make a financial profit. Transport connectivity is also necessary for development.”

The Government provides subsidies under programmes including Gami Seriya, Nisi Seriya and Sisu Seriya to support services that would otherwise be difficult for operators to maintain.

Gunasena said operators serving some rural routes receive Government support in addition to ticket revenue because passenger numbers are insufficient to cover operating costs.

A similar system is used for school transport services under Sisu Seriya, where the Government provides a subsidy based on the distance travelled.

Gunasena said the Government allocated around Rs. 3 billion last year for routes classified as economically unviable.

“These are routes where there may not be enough passengers to make the service profitable, but people still need transport,” he said.

The Government therefore meets part of the operating cost to ensure that buses continue serving such communities.

Gunasena said improving transport links in rural and remote areas was necessary to ensure that communities were not excluded from economic and social development as the Government modernised public transport in urban areas.

His comments came as the Transport and Highways Ministry expands new public transport initiatives, including air-conditioned bus services in Colombo and plans to improve bus and railway services elsewhere in the country.

Gunasena said the Government did not view rural transport solely as a commercial activity because access to reliable transport affected people’s ability to reach schools, workplaces, hospitals and other essential services.