Rough Rides

The State of Public Transportation in Sri Lanka

Image by Danusha Thranga from Pixabay

People in Sri Lanka use buses and trains as their main transportation mode. Many are not satisfied with these options due to their discomfort and risk they have to face with.

Most of these services are not up to quality standards, and many bus drivers think as if their buses are jets. They focus only on how much they will earn by the end of the day and often compete with other drivers of same routes for passengers at bus stops.

As a developing country, it’s common in Sri Lanka to face with these kind of behaviors.

When I was following A/L back in 2012, I had to take buses from Habarana to Kurunegala, which is around 72 km away, to attend private classes. In Sri Lanka, most schools lack qualified A/L teachers, so we have to take private classes to fill the gap.

A few other friends and I attended these classes together. At that time, we were young and enjoyed taking these buses, often traveling on the same bus. The good side was that they charged us only half of the regular ticket prices, and the conductor and driver always took care of us as we were students.

At class times, most buses tried to load up with passengers. I still remember one day when our bus stopped at a halt for a few minutes. Our driver received news…