No more semi-luxury buses from 2019

Colombo (News1st) - A special committee has been appointed to look into the possibility of phasing out semi-luxury buses. Chairman of the National Transport Commission (NTC) M.A.P. Hemachandra said that bus owners will be allowed to use the buses currently providing semi-luxury services for normal bus services, or upgrade to luxury buses. The chairman of the commission said that about 50 bus owners have already come forward to make the switch from semi-luxury to regular bus services. The NTC is to take a decision on the fate of semi-luxury buses based on the findings of the special committee. However, the decision seems to be a formality as the NTC announced earlier that semi-luxury buses will be taken out of service with effect from the 31st of December this year. The NTC had announced that they had taken this decision based on the inconvenience faced by the general public on semi-luxury buses,  due to overcrowding