The project will aim at proving those travelling by bus are not penalised by slower travel, with Colombo city bus travel speed now being only 8km an hour while using a car is twice as fast, statement added.
Sri Lanka to test Bus Priority System in Rajagiriya: Min
Mar 10, 2017 (LBO) - Sri Lanka Megapolis Ministry will test launch a new bus priority system from Rajagiriya to promote better use of public transport in an effort to reduce worsening traffic jams, the ministry said in a statement.
The week-long test of the bus priority lane system will commence from Rajagiriya junction and go up to the Ayurveda junction and run parallel on Parliament Road and Old Kotte Road, starting Sunday, 12 March.
“We need to improve public transport as the traffic jams will only get worse,” Champika Ranawaka, Minister of Megapolis and Western Development was quoted as saying in the statement.
“We see that people have moved from public transport to private options like motorcycles, three-wheelers and small cars.”
He says that this is after close to a trillion rupees being spent on improving roads in the past few years.
"If 40 people going by bus decide to take a private option then it will take up 7-10 times the amount of road space of buses," he said.
The test project is mainly to see how it would work in practice and also to gauge the public reaction.