- Over 1,200 buses aged 12 and above; 15-year mark breached by 1,105 buses
- Rs. 2.52 b expenditure on bus fleet maintenance in 2022
- Rs. 2.02 b allocated for 2023 bus rehabilitation
- Over 7,700 drivers and conductors strain SLTB operations
Nearly one-third of the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus fleet, amounting to 1,904 buses, is reported to be non-operational as of 31 January 2023, as revealed by the National Audit Office (NAO).
Of these, 1,240 buses are over 12 years old and a concerning 1,105 buses have surpassed the 15-year mark.
The buses that have surpassed 15 years include 630 Tata buses, 425 Leyland buses, and 50 other types of buses, according to the report.
The NAO, in its latest audit on the utilisation of the SLTB bus fleet at maximum capacity, has revealed that a sum of Rs. 2.52 billion had been spent on the maintenance of this fleet of 6,998 buses in 2022.
As revealed by the audit, no action has been taken to assess the condition of these buses, hindering decisions on potential repairs or disposal of unusable units.
It is further revealed that the General Treasury had allocated Rs. 750 million for the rehabilitation of buses in 2022. However, the SLTB lacks records detailing the rehabilitation and operational status of the buses funded by this amount.
Out of this sum, Rs. 606.31 million by the Transport Board and Rs. 143 million by Lakdiva Engineering Ltd. had been expended.
Regrettably, the rehabilitated buses have not been put into operation, raising concerns that the allocated Rs. 750 million has been utilised for recurrent expenses by both the board and Lakdiva Engineering.
It has been revealed that the General Treasury had allocated Rs. 2.02 billion for bus rehabilitation in 2023. However, no descriptions of the rehabilitated buses or monthly reports on advances received have been submitted to the Department of Public Enterprises and Department of Treasury Operations through the ministry.
Observations indicate that this allocated amount is currently being used for recurrent expenditure, making it impossible to obtain accurate information about the fleet of buses added to operation in 2023.
Furthermore, the audit highlighted that the repair and maintenance cost for one bus is approximately Rs. 359,665. In 2022, the fuel cost for running the bus fleet amounted to Rs. 36.68 billion.
However, discrepancies have arisen as the number of bus runs operated and the total kilometres covered in 2022 were reported as 1,792,649 and 349,198,715 km, respectively. This revealed a fuel cost of Rs. 105 per kilometre.
The NAO noted that 75% of the 6,998 buses added to service had malfunctioning odometers, rendering the figure of 349,198,715 passenger kilometres driven unsatisfactory and incapable of accurately reflecting the fuel burned per passenger kilometre.
The audit observed that 7,786 drivers and 7,768 conductors in the board had become a significant impediment to the full deployment of the bus fleet.
Furthermore, the audit revealed that the duty rosters had been organised based on a formal system. However, drivers and conductors had not been efficiently assigned to run the buses.