Bus fares will not be increased following this month’s fuel price revision, the National Transport Commission (NTC) said.
NTC Chairman Eng. P. A. Chandrapala said the increase in the price of a litre of diesel at the latest revision was not large enough to warrant a fare adjustment, and confirmed that no revision will be made, NewsFirst reported.
The trigger that was not pulled
Sri Lanka’s bus fare formula adjusts fares only when fuel costs move past a set threshold, rather than on every price change. The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation raised diesel and petrol prices at the 30 September revision, with auto diesel rising to Rs. 392 and super diesel to Rs. 528 a litre.
The same mechanism produced the same outcome in June, when then-Deputy Transport Minister Prasanna Gunasena said a CPC increase had fallen below the 4% threshold in the formula and fares were left alone.
A note on the subsidy figure
NewsFirst’s report adds that the government “has already provided a subsidy of Rs. 4.1 billion for the months of October, November, and December.”
That figure does not match the approved allocation. The Cabinet approved Rs. 40.65 billion in diesel relief for October, November and December — 15.0, 13.5 and 12.15 billion rupees across the three months — as this desk reported on 29 September, after President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced a figure of Rs. 41 billion at a rally in Gampaha two days earlier.
Given the identical three-month window, the Rs. 4.1 billion in the NewsFirst filing appears to be a decimal error on the announced Rs. 41 billion. LankaNewz has not been able to confirm a separate Rs. 4.1 billion transport allocation, and readers should treat the approved Rs. 40.65 billion as the supported figure.
Fares remaining flat matters for commuters, but the relief being carried by the subsidy rather than the fare box means the cost has moved to the Treasury rather than disappearing.
