The Chairman of the Northern Province Road Passenger Transport Authority, Engineer S. Vimaleswaran, has stated that the “Sisu Seriya” bus service will soon be fully expanded across the Northern Province with the aim of ensuring safe transportation for school students, teachers, and higher education students. He also noted that this initiative will directly benefit students traveling from remote areas for educational purposes.
The “Sisu Seriya” service, introduced in 2005, is a reliable programme implemented through a joint effort of the Ministry of Education, the Police Department, the Sri Lanka Transport Board, and the National Transport Commission. It has been specifically designed to ensure that students and teachers can travel safely to and from educational institutions without any disruption.
At present, more than 1,000 buses are operating under this service nationwide. However, in the Northern Province, the service has so far been limited and not fully implemented.
To address this situation, around 60 new routes have been selected across the Northern Province based on recommendations from Zonal Education Directors. The district-wise breakdown of these routes is as follows:
>> Jaffna: 25 routes
>> Mullaitivu: 12 routes
>> Kilinochchi: 9 routes
>> Vavuniya: 8 routes
>> Mannar: 6 routes
The buses operating on these routes will be exclusively allocated for school students, university and technical college students, and teachers. Concessionary fares will be charged for students, while teachers will be charged the standard fare.
As an initial phase, steps have been taken to deploy at least 40 buses. The processes for route selection and approvals are currently in their final stages. Additionally, in some areas, the service is already being operated on a pilot basis.
Through this initiative, transportation difficulties faced by students in the Northern Province, especially those from remote areas will be significantly reduced, ensuring a safe and well organized journey for their education, Chairman Eng. S. Vimaleswaran emphasized.
