Plans have already been made to provide an efficient and comfortable public transport service to the commuters by the year 2022 and steps will be taken to digitize the transport services using modern technology, said the Transport Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi.
The Minister emphasized this during a discussion held with the officials of the Ministry today (07) regarding the transport plans to be implemented in 2022.
Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi says that the digitization program will be implemented through the ‘Sahasara’ project under the Ministry and as a step towards that, GPS technology will be provided to 2000 private buses and 200 million will be spent for this.
The Minister further said that with the provision of GPS technology for buses, steps will be taken to provide a free mobile app for the public to use the service. Accordingly, the buses used for their journeys will be able to get a detailed report on the arrival time of the buses and the number of passengers on their mobile phones,
Ms. Pavithra Wanniarachchi also stated that the Ministry of Transport is planning to introduce an e-ticket to the public by the year 2022. She also said that the 3K project under the Ministry is to expand the ‘Park and Ride’ system with the aim of reducing traffic congestion in the city of Colombo by setting up eight more multiple transport hubs in eight major cities. She further stated that plans have been made to involve an institution for the job security and welfare of bus workers.
Secretary to the Ministry Monty Ranatunga, Additional Secretary Bernard Wasantha, Director of the ‘Sahasara’ Project Yohan Ratnayake and Director of the 3K Project Nalaka Dissanayake were also present at the discussion.
