By Skandha Gunasekara
The Government intends to transition to e-ticketing and e-driving licences for the transport sector to overcome the various raw material shortages, with plans afoot to seek proposals from the State and private sector for the transformation, The Sunday Morning learns.
According to Transport Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, steps are being taken to introduce e-driving licences, given the raw material shortage affecting the printing of driving licences.
The shortage of paper and similar print material has, over the last year, impacted the printing of educational materials such as textbooks, examination papers, Government resources, newspapers, and packing material.
“These circumstances are an opportunity for us to shift to new technologies. Therefore, we expect to introduce e-driving licences in the near future. We have requested universities and IT companies to submit proposals in this regard,” Gunawardena told The Sunday Morning.
When asked if the Government had established a timeline to roll out e-licences and e-ticketing for public transport and motorists, Gunawardena declined to elaborate, except to say that the transformation would move forward soon.
The Minister explained that plans were being drawn up for the railway and other transport methods to transition to the use of e-tickets and other digital means.
“In developed countries, tickets for transport systems are done via mobile phone using technology such as QR codes. We too must now bring in such measures,” he opined.
The Minister also asserted that such a transformation would help Sri Lanka save foreign exchange while improving the efficiency of and access to the public transport sector.
“By transitioning to technology over paper for tickets and licences, we can save much-needed foreign exchange needed to import the raw materials,” Gunawardena added.
Paper/card shortages: Govt. moots e-licences and tickets
09 Oct 2022
Paper/card shortages: Govt. moots e-licences and tickets
09 Oct 2022