The luxury air-conditioned bus service linking Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake with the Makumbura Multi-Modal Transport Centre south of Colombo has resumed operations from Monday at a Rs. 410 fare and a roughly 50-minute travel time.
The reintroduction is jointly run by Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) and the National Transport Commission, under the guidance of the Ministry of Transport, Highways and Urban Development and the Ministry of Ports and Civil Aviation. Officials said the service was designed to give arriving and departing travellers — both Sri Lankan and foreign — a comfortable budget alternative to taxis and a direct connection into the Colombo metro transport network.
Buses operate at 45-minute intervals from 5:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily. Passengers landing at the airport can ride straight through to Makumbura, where they connect to the southern expressway-bus network and the Colombo suburban rail system. The same hub absorbed more than 55,000 passengers during the Avurudu festive period earlier this year.
The relaunch follows the pilot of low-floor accessible buses on the Makumbura corridor in April and complements special airport bus services run during the Avurudu travel rush. The original BIA–Makumbura luxury bus was suspended last year due to low ridership and operational disputes between the airport authority and route operators.
Sources: NewsFirst.
