Bus fares will not be increased despite the recent rise in retail fuel prices, Deputy Transport Minister Prasanna Gunasena said, citing the standing fare revision formula.
The formula triggers a fare review only when fuel prices move by more than 4 percent, the Deputy Minister told reporters. The latest revision did not exceed that threshold, so fares will remain unchanged, he said.
“Bus fares will not increase with the rise in fuel prices. Fares are adjusted according to the formula. Only if fuel prices change by more than four percent will fares be revised. This time, the increase has not exceeded that threshold, so there will be no fare increase,” Gunasena said.
The CPC raised petrol, diesel and kerosene prices from midnight on May 30 in a surprise revision, with petrol 95 octane up Rs.25 and 92 octane up Rs.24. Diesel — the dominant bus fuel — was lifted by a smaller margin, keeping the weighted change inside the 4% trigger.
Bus operators had pressed the government for a fare review immediately after the fuel hike, with private bus associations warning that operating margins were under pressure from imported energy costs and the continued rupee slide that took the dollar past Rs.336 on Tuesday. The National Transport Commission has held a similar line on three-wheeler and intercity fares after the May 30 fuel hike, with the fare formula keeping the consumer-facing price unchanged.
Sri Lanka’s bus fare formula was last comprehensively revised after the 2022 fuel crisis, with the National Transport Commission and the Transport Ministry agreeing a fuel-indexed mechanism that links published fares to changes in the CPC retail price of diesel above a four-percent band.
