Following heavy demand more buses on A9

Irangika Range

The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) will deploy more buses on the Colombo-Jaffna route following the high public demand.

There is a huge public demand to travel on the A9 road after easing of travel restrictions by the Government. Around 2,000 civilians have requested to travel on the A9 road each day, an SLTB spokesman told the Daily News.

The Government recently started a commuter bus service between Colombo and Jaffna in order to cater to their travelling needs.

“We deployed twenty buses initially to launch the service,” he said.

Accordingly, buses leave for Jaffna daily from Wellawatte via the Central Bus Stand at 12.30 a.m. and 1.30 am respectively to reach Jaffna in the morning. Several buses also leave Jaffna for Colombo in the morning.

He said that travelling to Jaffna is costly without a land service. The only other alternative is air travel that costs about Rs. 22,000 per round trip. That is why the SLTB operates the bus service under the affordable fares to benefit Jaffna and Colombo bound civilians.

The fare on the semi-luxury bus between Colombo and Jaffna is Rs. 550 whereas in state owned Sri Lanka Transport Board buses it is only Rs. 368 for the 11 and a half-hour journey.

The SLTB is planning to start Jaffna-bound bus services from other cities as well in the future.

He said commuters are subjected to the personal inspection when only they get on to buses in Colombo and at the security check point in Medawachchiya.