Whither our public transport system?

TRANSPORT: One of the subjects I detest speaking or writing about is the stereotypical Sri Lankan commuter and his plight.

Today, for every worker, getting to the workplace on time has become a Herculean task. Even the middle class executives who are fortunate enough to possess cars find the journey depressing.

The plight of lower income groups who have to depend entirely on the public transport system has been pathetic.

It is easy to conceptualise the whole exercise as a video game: one solitary fighter and a whole host of obstacles to prevent him from reaching his destination in time.

The difference is just that you cannot quit when you are fed up. For the commuters that option is absent. They have to fight day after day against obstacles that are only increasing in magnitude and in number.

The issues of rash driving by bus and three-wheeler drivers, over speeding and traffic congestion are of major concern these days. Would imposing more rules and regulations make the situation better or rather worse?

To begin with, the term “public transport system” itself is a misnomer in many ways. Which transport system in Sri Lanka is not public? The omnipresent three wheeler is used as a “hop-in and hop-out” coach in many parts of Sri Lanka.

The scarcity of alternatives allows these not-so-clean and not-at-all-safe modes of transit to be to be used by commuters, though they are no more economical.

And, then there are those private buses christened as ‘devils’, belching out smoke and noise, generally ferrying over hundreds of passengers, packed like sardines inside and clinging like corals outside, and plying on the wrong lanes on various national highways.

It is no use blaming the passengers for patronising these “suicide bombers” for citizen Perera or Silva has no option but to brook the monster.

The passengers at major towns and cities seek non-stop journeys on buses with “Inter-City-Express” tags. The recent fatalities involving these buses and the reactions of the public, courts, politicians and popular media are a fascinating study in the modern Sri Lankan psyche.

There are many aspects related to the problem of public transport in Sri Lanka that have been dissected by many expert committees, NGOs and researchers.

The unregulated growth in the cities and government regulations permitting higher floor space ratios in suburban areas have promoted sprawl and led to a shifting of population to the suburbs.

Yet the offices, workplaces, schools, hospitals, shopping and other utilities continue to be based in the city. This, in turn, had put greater pressure on the public transport.

There is another aspect of this set-up that defies logic. The public transport system in Colombo and many other places is run by private operators, but through individual bus owners rather than established private companies. It reeks as a relic of the socialist era when the State did not trust the private corporate Houses.

It would be ideal if the bus system in cities is corporatised and opened to two or three private players; these could be reputed corporate houses. These firms could own, manage, operate and finance their own public transportation systems.

They will bring in much needed efficiency and accountability into the system while economies of scale and market forces will keep the tariff rates competitive.

The license fees from these operators can be used by the government to subsidise non-profitable routes. The advantages of such a system are numerous to recount and there are not many drawbacks.

However, it has to be accompanied by strict regulations, performance standards, and overall coordination by an independent regulatory authority to ensure an efficacious network of services. The modernisation of transport offices, registration and driving licensing authorities has to be a concurrent step.

Public transportation in Sri Lanka is a large and varied sector of the economy. Modes of conveyance for transport of goods in Sri Lanka range from hand and bullock carts and three-wheelers to trucks and railroad cars.

The national railroad was the major freight hauler at independence, but road transport in Sri Lanka grew rapidly after 1950. Yet both rail and road transport remains equally important.

The share of Sri Lanka’s transportation investments in total public investment declined after the independence except for few short intermittent periods; real public transportation investment also declined during much of that period because of the need for funds in the rest of the economy.

As a consequence, by the 1990s the transportation system in Sri Lanka was barely meeting the needs of the nation.

The critical factor to improve the entire public transportation sector is the ability of the public to adjust to the national reform initiatives, including privatisation, deregulation, and reduced subsidies.

The sector must also adjust to demographic pressures and increasing urbanisation, technological change and obsolescence, energy availability, and the environmental and public safety concerns.