brand logo

Room for improving safety on Sisu Seriya bus service: Study 

10 Apr 2022

  • Researchers recommend use of hazard lights and GPS-based speed monitoring 
BY RUWAN LAKNATH JAYAKODY  Even though major accidents have not been reported to date involving buses operating the Sisu Seriya (students travel) school bus service for the transport of school children, there is room for improving safety with the use of hazard lights during alighting and boarding, and the implementation of Global Positioning System (GPS)-based monitoring of speed, a recent study has found.  Moreover, since there have been protests by school van operators regarding the loss of patronage arising due to the operation of the Sisu Seriya school bus service, an opportunity is available for a concession to be provided to privately owned school buses and vans to upgrade their services to become Sisu Seriya school buses where the said subsidy can be tied to introducing higher quality buses with air conditioning (AC), it added.  These observations and recommendations were made in a strategic perspective published in the “Review of the ‘Sisu Seriya’ school bus service” which was authored by A.S. Kumarage and T. Kandanaarachchi (attached to the Moratuwa University’s Engineering Faculty’s Transport and Logistics Management Department) and A. Karunarathne (attached to the National Transport Commission [NTC]) and published in the Journal of South Asian Logistics and Transport 2 (1) on 30 March 2022. Kumarage et al.’s case study illustrates the design and implementation of the concessionary school bus service called Sisu Seriya that has continued since September 2005, upon inauguration by the NTC, and which has since expanded islandwide, providing 1,418 daily services to nearly 100,000 students.  The objectives of the Sisu Seriya school bus service are: the provision of a reliable and quality transport service for students from school to home and back, and on time; charging only 50% of the ticket price from the students; to create a pleasant social environment for students to interact during the commute to school; substituting a large bus instead of a large number of small vehicles to reduce fuel consumption, environmental pollution and traffic congestion; and incorporating both SLTB and private bus operators to provide more supply.  Features of the design of Sisu Seriya that were incorporated to ensure sustainability included: reliability by imposing penalties for the non-operation of buses and delays compelling regular operations; security by stipulating that two teachers be carried free of charge and safety guidelines being issued for the operators; affordability by charging only 50% of the regular fare while allowing the use of season tickets remaining unchanged on SLTB buses; ownership by setting up school transport committees made up of teachers and students; continuity by reimbursing estimated operator losses through a dedicated budget allocation for Sisu Seriya and the incorporation of both State and private operators; quality by setting standards required for the safe and convenient carriage of children including the minimum age for bus crews, uniforms and Employees’ Provident Fund/Employees’ Trust Fund in the contract and termination clauses as required; and monitoring by requiring the accreditation by school transport committees and the regulatory agencies (the NTC and the Provincial transport authorities) about the service before payments are made and allocating free tickets for two teachers and one senior student to certify the services provided every month.  The Sisu Seriya school bus service commenced the operation with 180 buses in seven Districts including Colombo, serving 152 schools across the country.  The selection of a Sisu Seriya bus service begins with a school (the trip attractor) making a written request to the NTC for a school bus service. After evaluating the requirement, the NTC directs the request either to the SLTB (based on the availability of buses) to assign a bus to the relevant route or to the relevant Provincial transport authority to nominate an existing private bus operator (based on the availability of private operators) on the same or nearby route to serve the school most easily. Once the supplier details are verified and matched with the school requirements, a service contract agreement is generated between the NTC and the operator with the necessary terms and conditions for three years. After the NTC approves the service, the respective school must form a school transport committee to be held responsible for monitoring the smooth operation of the service. This appears to be a unique user quality assurance feature that has worked very well, according to Kumarage et al.  The bus that is chosen is taken from its existing schedule and assigned for the two trips required by the Sisu Seriya service. Other buses are rescheduled as necessary. The bus remains in scheduled public service at all other times of a school day. On weekends and school holidays, it provides regular public services.  Under this model, the operator collects 50% of the fare. The Government provides a subsidy for the balance provided that the service is delivered under the guidelines regarding the availability, reliability, conduct of the crew, and the quality of the bus. The subsidy also pays the operator for the empty haul in both directions at the bus operating cost rate calculated annually by the NTC. Thus, a bus operating from x to y, a distance of 24 kilometres, for instance, will be paid for double the distance. If the bus operating cost for a 40 seat bus is calculated at Rs. 100 per kilometre, then the subsidy provided will be at 50% of the operating cost (Rs. 50 per kilometre multiplied by 48 kilometres, making a total of Rs. 2,400 per day, for approximately 200 days a year that the schools function). However, the maximum number of kilometres that the subsidy is provided for is 90 kilometres in the Western Province and 110 kilometres in the other Provinces. The NTC uses the index applicable to the annual fare revision to revise the bus operating cost annually. The SLTB, as it offers the season ticket subsidy to students on top of the 50% fare concession, will also get that portion of subsidy from the Treasury.  The bus operators qualify for the payment only if they provide at least 90% of the monthly scheduled trips. In 2010, this was raised to 95% but subsequently lowered back to 90% due to the inability of the providers to comply. An unserved trip is penalised with a monetary penalty twice the subsidy provided for that trip. A penalty equal to the subsidy assigned for the relevant ride is charged if a bus gets delayed. The NTC issues a log sheet for a bus every month, where the actual delivery and times of the two school trips should be certified by the assigned staff member and the student each day. This sheet is to be kept inside the bus for inspection by NTC officers when providing the Sisu Seriya service. The NTC makes the payment after the log sheet is submitted to the NTC through the SLTB depot manager or the Provincial transport authority in the case of a private operator. The price per trip in the contract is renewed by applying the percentage of the annual fare revision, which takes place in July every year. The price has increased and decreased with changes in input prices, mainly affected by changes in the fuel price.  All schools to which many children arrive by means other than walking are encouraged by the NTC to form a school transport committee after assigning a Sisu Seriya bus service. The principal of the school appoints this committee. It consists of two senior teachers, two responsible parents, the Officer-in-Charge of the Police Station of the area and the general manager of the Provincial transport authority if the bus is provided by a private operator and the representative who is in charge of operations in the respective SLTB depot. Other members are co-opted where necessary. This committee should meet at least once every month. If one bus is shared among students of several schools, a lead school may take the initiative to ensure the adequate representation of the other relevant schools in the committee.  The responsibilities of the committee are: to plan new services and amend the existing services; inform the parents regarding the services and secure support for the service provision; to discuss with the bus company to provide and maintain a regular school bus service and to monitor the said service; to appoint a warden for each school bus to maintain discipline and to liaise with the bus company daily; to plan and manage the parking, traffic control and road safety in the vicinity of the school, especially at the times of starting and the closing of the school; to monitor school van services according to the guidelines that may be prepared and issued by the Education Ministry or the NTC; to certify the provision of bus services for endorsing the payment to the SLTB and the private companies for the services provided; and to maintain the log sheet with proper updates while mentioning the dates when the service was not provided and specifying any quality concerns in the same sheet.  The buses employed for the programme have to be labelled with the logo developed for the programme. The name Sisu Seriya is marked in both Sinhala and Tamil.  A dedicated bus is allocated for the service by the operating company, which is responsible for providing a replacement if the designated bus is not available. Since the Sisu Seriya buses are used in regular service at other times, another advantage of Sisu Seriya is that buses in the regular public transport service are used instead of dedicated buses that are colour coded. This feature enables the bus service to be provided at the regular ticket price, and the State only subsidises the relevant concession discounted from the regular fare.  The requirements that need to be fulfilled by the private operators to be eligible for the service provision are that: in the case of a private bus, it should possess a valid route permit for the general route on which the bus would operate; priority should be given to the operators who reside close to the point of origin; an operator possessing more than one bus is considered preferable; the minimum capacity of the bus should be 40 seats, and the carrying capacity should be 80; the bus employed for this service should be less than 10-years-old; the operator should register to pay social security payments for the crew; the driver and the conductor should be registered either under the NTC or the Provincial transport authority; and the operators are required to maintain communication facilities inside the bus.  In addition, there are specified requirements for the crew: should wear the uniform while on duty; should be more than 30 years of age; should possess sound knowledge on the route; should be free of charges of having been found being unkind or impolite to passengers; and the driver should not have been involved in fatal accidents during their career.  Though well received by the public, the Government and other stakeholders, there were considerable protests from the school van owners whose business and incomes were impacted due to the Sisu Seriya. The option was therefore given for school van operators to get the Sisu Seriya service after converting to bus permits. As a result, some former school van owners now operate only a Sisu Seriya service.  Countries with dedicated school bus systems make the respective regulatory authorities responsible for the monitoring. However, the Sisu Seriya service is monitored primarily by its users. The two teachers and a student leader aboard the bus, who represent the school transport committee, certify the log sheets daily and implement the penalty system for any absence, delays and the failure to adhere to the contractual conditions.  This auditable and corruption free mechanism is needed to complete payments for the bus operators, made from public funds. Hence, the operators are motivated to get the log sheets signed every day. The log sheets also require the principal’s signature before being sent to the transport authorities for the payment. In addition, the NTC conducts unannounced spot checks from time to time to evaluate the compliance of the service providers, especially when a complaint of a breach of conditions is received.  The highest number of services is provided in the Western Province. However, the highest growth is recorded by the North Western Province. The only Provinces where the services are proportionately less are the Eastern and Central Provinces.  The growth rate of the subsidy, even at a nominal value, is less than the growth in the number of services. In 2018, the subsidy amounted to Rs. 552 million, entirely distributed among the respective operators. The NTC absorbs the administration cost of this programme as an assigned regulatory role.  The demand driven process and the setting up of school transport committees have empowered the schools to ensure several key parameters, namely, ownership by the users, the certification of the services, and continuity. The cost-based service provision and the annual fare revision formula help to retain and continue with successful operators. The penalty systems and onboard monitoring reduce the occurrence of irresponsible behaviour of operators and their incomes being pruned (at the limit, even making them exit from operations). Such operators have a fallback position as they could return to their regular route service and, as such, could leave voluntarily.  The number of buses deployed for Sisu Seriya has grown by 16% per annum without Government investment or assistance to the operators, the rapid growth being due to the use of regular route operators for school trips. School trips make up just two trips a day out of their total of eight to 10 trips. Counting also the days on which schools do not operate, this works out to around 12% of the total kilometres operated by such a bus being used for Sisu Seriya.  The programme has reduced the operation of school vans, especially in large urban areas. The school buses have reduced congestion on urban roads as these vans were parked on roadsides near schools. Hence, the schools have encouraged buses to minimise traffic congestion and parking around schools. It is also reported that school children prefer to use a bus against a school van and even those driven by their parents in some cases, as the social climate in a school bus is considered enjoyable.  Kumarage et al. noted however that traffic priority measures have not been legislated in favour of the Sisu Seriya school bus service. Therefore, they suggested that the upcoming developments in bus priority lanes and bus modernising systems to enhance both the quality and quantity of the Sisu Seriya school bus service be used for the purpose.

Kapruka

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!


More News..