School transport fares will have to be raised following the latest revision in fuel prices, particularly the increase in diesel, the All-Island School Children Transportation Association said on Sunday.
The Association’s secretary, Malshri de Silva, told Ada Derana that the adjustment will not be applied as a percentage increase but will be set after discussions with parents, with the aim of agreeing a “reasonable increment.” He said that although diesel prices had risen on several previous occasions, fares had not been raised in consideration of the financial burden on families.
“Diesel prices were increased by Rs. 10 at midnight yesterday,” de Silva said. “Until now, we have been operating without increasing the burden on parents. But now, an increase has become necessary. We are not specifying a percentage; instead, we are requesting that any adjustment be made in line with the diesel price increase, without overburdening parents. This job is being carried out with great difficulty. Due to multiple instances of diesel price hikes, we now have to increase transport fares by a certain amount.”
The fare statement follows the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s overnight price revision, which lifted Auto Diesel by Rs. 10 to Rs. 392 a litre, Super Diesel by Rs. 15 to Rs. 458, Petrol 92 by Rs. 12 to Rs. 410 and Petrol 95 by Rs. 15 to Rs. 470 — the first execution of a weekly pricing formula. Lanka IOC followed with its own price revisions on May 3.
School transport providers are typically among the first essential-services operators to seek pass-through of fuel price increases, as their per-kilometre costs are dominated by diesel and the operating margins on monthly parent contracts are thin. The size and timing of any new fare structure will depend on parent consultations.
Source: Ada Derana.
