The Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) was the nationalised enterprise which handled all public omnibus transport in Sri Lanka between 1958 and 1978. At its peak it was the largest omnibus company in the world, with about 7,000 buses and over 50,000 employees. Look up omnibus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Broken up into several regional boards and later into several companies, it was finally reconstituted as the Sri Lanka Transport Board in 2005.

Origins

Omnibus transport first began in Sri Lanka as an owner-operated service. There was no regulation, so when more than one bus operated on a single route there was a scramble for the load, which might end in fisticuffs or even stabbings. The setting up of the limited liability omnibus companies by the British around 1940 was the first meaningful step to regularise public passenger transport in this country. Limited liability (LL) is liability that is limited to a partner or investors investment. ...

The earliest buses plied on the main routes only and had open bodies. Passengers got in from both sides of the bus and through a door at the back. The openings were covered with buttoned down leather cloth which could be rolled up when necessary. The Nelson Commission appointed by the British government to look into shortcomings in bus transport in Sri Lanka recommended replacing open body buses with closed body buses, which came to be known as ‘Nelson body’ buses.

The limited liability omnibus companies that came into existence were the Silverline Bus Company owned by B. J. Fernando, the South Western Bus Company (Sir Cyril de Zoysa), the Ebert Silva Bus Company (Ebert Silva), Sri Lanka Omnibus Company (Jayasena Mudalali), Panadura Bus Company (Sir Leo Fernando), Wijaya Bus Company (Mudaliyar Mendis of Negombo), K. B. L. Perera and Sons of Hendala, Siri Medura Bus Company (Singho Mahattaya of Attanagalla) and so on.

The owners were in overall charge of operations and the companies ran the services on their own whims and fancies; the companies shared routes among themselves. It was therefore difficult for the commuters to travel to distant places without breaking journey at one or two destinations. There were no time schedules or night time services. Buses packed to capacity were driven at a terrific speed, even on bends on the steep roads of the Hatton-Adam’s Peak route. Only the South Western Bus Company was run on modern lines.

These companies employed the minimum number of staff: support staff was almost non-existent. The employees were treated abominably: one owner allegedly tied a bus conductor to a tree and spanked the poor man for failing to bring in the targeted collection for the day. Unionisation by N.M. Perera's All Ceylon United Motor Workers' Union had to proceed in secret, with union agents disguising themselves to avoid company thugs. Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, better known as N. M. Perera (6 June 1905 - 14 August 1979) was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). ... The All Ceylon United Motor Workers Union is a trade union which organises workers in the passenger bus sector in Sri Lanka. ...

At the time, all the buses ran on petrol (gasoline) or even kerosene (paraffin). Among the makes employed were Bedford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Leyland and Mercedes Benz. Only the South Western Bus Company had run double-decker buses, which plied on the Galle Road. Gasoline, as it is known in North America, or petrol, in many Commonwealth countries (sometimes also called motor spirit) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... Russian kerosene lamp Kerosene or paraffin oil (British English, not to be confused with the waxy solid also called paraffin) is a colorless flammable hydrocarbon liquid. ... Bedford is the county town of the English county of Bedfordshire. ... Chevrolet, or Chevy, is a brand of automobile, now part of General Motors. ... Head Dodge is a brand name of automobiles and light- to heavy-duty trucks, marketed by the Chrysler Corporation from 1928 to the present. ... Ford may mean a number of things: A ford is a river crossing. ... Map sources for Leyland at grid reference SD544214 Leyland is a town in the borough of South Ribble, Lancashire, United Kingdom, approximately 6 miles south of Preston. ... Mercedes-Benz Logo from 280 SE Mercedes-Benz is a German brand of automobiles, buses, coaches and trucks from the DaimlerChrysler company (formerly known as Daimler-Benz), commonly known as Mercedes. ... A London AEC Routemaster, RML 2473 (JJD 473D), on route 7 approaching Ladbroke Grove tube station in April 2002. ...

Beginnings

In 1957, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna government led by Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike decided on the nationalisation of bus services. In order to provide a better service to the people, he established the Ceylon Transport Board on 1 January 1958. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (Peoples United Front) is a left-wing political party in Sri Lanka. ... Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (1899-September 26, 1959) was Prime Minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The inaugural trip of the CTB took the Prime Minister and the Transport and Works Minister Maithripala Senanayake on a maroon luxury Mercedes-Benz bus imported from Germany. This bus is still owned by the Nittambuwa Bus Depot.

The creation of a single nationalised entity made possible long distance operations and running buses on a large number of rural routes. To supplement the company buses that were vested in the CTB, a record number of buses and bus chassis were imported. Leyland, Wayne, Hino and Magirus Deutz buses and even a Škoda bus with a trailer were imported. A number of second-hand Leyland Tigers, AEC Regal RFWs and double-decker buses were obtained from London Transport.[1] [2] Steps were taken to convert buses to diesel fuel. Wayne is the name of a number of places in the United States of America, some named for the American Revolutionary War general Anthony Wayne. ... Categories: Cities in Tokyo Prefecture | Japan geography stubs ... Iveco Magirus is a truck and bus manufacturing company which is based in Ulm, Germany. ... Å koda Auto â–¶(?) is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group (VAG) and used to be the leading automobile manufacturer in the Czech Republic. ... AEC was a United Kingdom based bus manufacturer which built buses from 1912 until 1979. ... Founded in 1933 by an act of Parliament under Transport Minister Herbert Stanley Morrison, The London Passenger Transport Board generally known London Transport was A public authority appointed under act of Parliament, charged with responsibility for providing an adequate and properly co-ordinated system of passenger transport (Buses including Green... Diesel or Diesel fuel is a specific fractional distillate of fuel oil (mostly petroleum) that is used as fuel in a diesel engine invented by German engineer Rudolf Diesel. ...

The CTB was given a good start under the Chairmanship of Vere de Mel of the Ceylon Civil Service (and of Quickshaws, the private Taxi Company). Thereafter the services deteriorated and the Board ran into financial difficulties owing to mismanagement.

Nuwara Eliya Bus Stand on Opening, 1965

In 1964 Anil Moonesinghe of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) became Minister of Communications, in overall charge of the transport, including the CTB. He took a very close interest in the running of the organisation. He introduced workers' councils on the Yugoslav model to participate in management, with a resultant improvement in morale and efficiency. He expanded the bus services, most notably in Jaffna, where ex-London Transport double-deckers were very popular and broke the monopoly on public transport by illicit private operators. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1260x796, 550 KB) Nuwara Eliya Bus Stand on opening 1965 Photographer unknown Collection of Anil Moonesinghe File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1260x796, 550 KB) Nuwara Eliya Bus Stand on opening 1965 Photographer unknown Collection of Anil Moonesinghe File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... Anil Moonesinghe Anil Moonesinghe (15 February 1927 – 8 December 2002) was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist revolutionary politician. ... The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Sri Lanka Equal Society Party - LSSP) is a trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. ... A workers council is a council, or deliberative body, composed of working class or proletarian members. ... Yugoslav refers to: Yugoslavia Kingdom of Yugoslavia Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavs This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Moonesinghe took steps to set up a Central Bus Station (CBS) in the central Colombo district of Pettah, close to the main Fort Railway Station. He started the Central Workshops at Werahera, just outside Colombo, which built bus bodies out of Aluminium and carried out engine repairs and overhauls. The fleet strength was increased by the addition of second hand London FIAT and OM Tigrotto buses were imported. The FIAT company also gifted about 50 cars (in lieu of commission), which were used by the CTB's Flying Squad. He was in the middle of negotiating with the FIAT company to build buses in Sri Lanka when the Government of which he was a minister fell in 1965. Towers of downtown Colombo Colombo is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. ... General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Atomic mass 26. ... Fiat S.p. ... Officine Meccaniche (OM) - was an Italian Truck manufacturer, from Brescia. ... The CTB Flying Squad was the unit of mobile security and maintenance personnel set up by the Ceylon Transport Board. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ...

The incoming United National Party regime recruited a large number of political supporters as staff, so that the favourable employee/bus ratio increased and made the CTB a loss-making institution. The pending agreement with FIAT, which would have enabled Sri Lanka to export buses to China, was scrapped and a deal was made with British Leyland instead. The workers' councils were also scrapped. The United National Party (UNP, Sinhalese:(pronounced Eksath Jathika Pakshaya), Tamil: ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி) is a political party in Sri Lanka. ...

Golden Age

In 1970, the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike was returned to power, with Leslie Goonewardena of the LSSP as Minister of Transport. The CTB workers immediately took matters into their own hands and reconstituted the workers' councils. On their demand, Anil Moonesinghe (now no longer an MP) was brought back as Chairman and General Manager. The United Front was a polical alliance in Sri Lanka, formed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) in 1968. ... Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (April 17, 1916 - October 10, 2000) was a politician from Sri Lanka. ...

Anil Moonesinghe enters Thalangama depot shortly after being appointed Chairman, CTB, June 1970

Anil Moonesinghe would dress in a bush shirt and trousers and operate as a one-man flying squad to catch errant bus crews in the act, lying in wait in his metallic blue Volkswagen Variant or his Citroen 2CV at places like Dematagoda Junction to prowl on them. Stories would abound (all untrue) of him being spotted disguised with a beard. In order to prove that eight buses could be serviced in a day, he once carried out eight vehicle services at the Central Workshops, Werahera). ImageMetadata File history File links Anil_Thalangama_Depot_1970. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Anil_Thalangama_Depot_1970. ... The Volkswagen TL was a 2-door sedan produced in Germany and by Volkswagen in Brazil in the 1970s, derived from the Volkswagen Type 3. ... 1960 2CV. Notice suicide doors The 2CV (deux chevaux - French, literally two horses, from the tax power rating) was a popular French car made by Citroën. ...

New management vision

Moonesinghe planned a multi-facetted approach to the management of the institution: Training and skills enhancement, Scientific methodology and discipline were considered to be three main requisite characteristics.

The managerial competency and skill of the CTB staff was upgraded and several batches of management trainees were recruited to all its major functional areas. A training arm was organised for both the managerial and the lower-level staff. Staff were recruited on projected future needs and not on an ad-hoc basis as hitherto.

Operations were put on a scientific footing. Measurements were introduced to ascertain the efficiency of every sector. Operations were re-structured based on studying commuter demands and operational bases were expanded by increasing the number of depots to over 100.

Operational discipline was improved by displaying running and route numbers as well as destinations on buses and systematising terminal controls through efficient and effective time-keeping, to enhance the regularity in the operation of the running schedules. Way-side breakdowns were brought down to a bare minimum.

The views of commuters were sought. J. Diandas, a well known commuter representative and rights activist (as well as a specialist in transport) was made an advisor, and consultations with consumer bodies were frequently carried out.

Technical Improvements

A policy of standardisation was inaugurated, to prevent the multiplication of bus types and makes. Bus chassis were purchased from Ashok Leyland and Tata; Isuzu chassis were also obtained (at prices equivalent to the Indian chassis) in order to prevent cartelisation by the Indian suppliers. Some chassis were also imported from Ikarus of Hungary. Trans Board Tours, intended to hire buses for private trips was started and a fleet of luxury Leyland buses was acquired for it. These were very comfortable buses painted light brown. Ashok Leyland bus Ashok Leyland ([NSE:]ASHOKLEY, [BSE:]500477)is a commercial vehicle manufacturing company based in Chennai, India. ... Tata Motors Limited-(Hindi:टाटा मोटरस) is Indias largest private automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company. ... Isuzu Motors Ltd. ... Ikarus is an industrial corporation based in Budapest, Hungary. ...

The double-decker buses imported second-hand from London Transport were gradually withdrawn from service due to the high cost of spare parts and heavy diesel consumption compared to the new Indian and Japanese buses. Only a few of these remain, notably one at Maharagama depot, which runs up to Avissawella.

A positive effort was made to build up local industry and the CTB became well equipped with foundries and workshops: the Central Workshop at Werahera became the largest in South Asia, equipped with machine tools from India, Germany and the Eastern Bloc. In 1974 the assembly of bus chassis and prototypes of a locally manufactured bus and a car rolled out of Werahera. Preference was given to locally-manufactured spare parts and the automotive spare parts industry grew rapidly. Eastern bloc During the Cold War, the Eastern Bloc (or Soviet Bloc) comprised the following Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Albania (until the early 1960s, see below), the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...

The requirement for skilled intermediate technical staff was also taken in hand. The Ceylon-German Training School, started with aid from the Federal Republic of Germany, became the Sri Lanka-German Technical Training Institute, producing high-grade technicians.

Self-Management

The workers' councils were regularised as 'Employees' Councils', with regular elections supervised by the Elections Commissioner. Dudley Wijesiri, a brilliant young manager, was put in charge of the unit tasked with taking workers' self-management forward. Management was decentralised as much as possible to depot level, where management tasks were shared between the Depot Superintendent (a technical officer) and the Depot Employees' Council. At the same time, discipline was strictly enforced. Worker Self-Management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the employees themselves agree on choices (for issues like customer care, general production methods, scheduling, division of labour etc. ...

The enthusiasm of the employees helped improve the efficiency of the mammoth institution. For example, they pointed out a number of ways by which bus conductors could cheat their ticket machines. A special ticket machine workshop was established at Ethul Kotte to incorporate the modifications suggested by them. Sri Jayewardenapura-Kotte, also known as Kotte, is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka. ...

A congress of all the Employees' Councils in the Board was held in 1975. Leslie Gunawardena and Anil Moonesinghe were preparing the next step up the workers' self-management ladder: the Board of Directors was to be reconstituted with half the members to be elected by the Employees' Councils, with the Chairman holding the balance. 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ...

Results

As a consequence of all these, the reliability of operations increased and the commuters could rely on (i) the time tables, (ii) the first and last trips on the routes schedules, (iii) courtesy and promptness of service (iv) cleanliness of buses and premises, (v) courtesy and disciplined conduct of the staff and, most importantly (vi) safe and accident-free operation.

The CTB was now carrying about 4,000,000 passengers per day, with just 5,000 running buses. Therefore standee buses were introduced, with a conductors at each of the the front and rear doors to ensure that no revenue was lost. 'Ladies Only' trips were started to enable women commuters to return home after work. By 1974 the CTB was again running at a profit and proving a good service at the same time. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...

Work was started on a new CBS in the Pettah, funded by monies generated by the CTB. This was to be a modern transport complex, complete with shops, a low-budget hotel for long-distance travellers and a cinema. Only one section of arc of the outer circular structure was completed by the end of 1975.

Then, in September 1975, the United Front government broke up and Leslie Goonewardena and Anil Moonesinghe resigned. September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with 30 days. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ...

Breakdown

Jack Kotelawela was now appointed Chairman. However, his management philosophy differed from that of Anil Moonesinghe. The Employees' Councils continued, but with none of the enthusiasm that characterised them in the earlier years. An adequate service was provided to the commuters, however.

In 1977, the new government of J.R. Jayawardene was intent on destroying what was now a popular symbol of efficient state enterprise. By Law no 19 of 1978, the CTB was broken up into Regional Transport Boards (RTBs). A central co-ordinating body, the Sri Lanka Central Transport Board (SLCTB) was established, but it was not organic with the RTBs. The partially constructed new CBS building, which had been built with funds generated by the CTB handed over to the Urban Development Authority. The Employees' Councils were scrapped. A series of inadequately-thought-out plans were put into operation, notably the 'Green Circle Line'- scrapped within five years. A large amount of money was spent repainting the buses green. Lumpenproletariat supporters of the UNP were recruited in large numbers to the RTBs, particularly after the 1980 General Strike. Junius Richard Jayewardene (September 17, 1906 November 1, 1996) was a Sri Lankan political figure. ... The lumpenproletariat (German Lumpenproletariat, rabble-proletariat) is a term originally defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The German Ideology (1845), their famous second joint work, and later expounded upon in future works by Marx. ...

Jayewardene also re-introduced the system that had prevailed in the pre-bus company days, of unregulated private buses. The difference was that operators had to obtain route licences. Their road discipline was almost non-existent, but commuters, faced with a state transport system now on the verge of collapse, had no option but to travel on them. Most of these private buses are in a pitiable condition today and many are unroadworthy.

Jayawardene's successor, Ranasinghe Premadasa broke the RTBs down into smaller units based on depots, the so-called 'Peoplised Bus Companies'. The Central Workshops, Werahera and the regional workshops established in the 1970s were handed out to private companies. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

By the 2000s, the 'peoplised' transport services accounted for less than a quarter of the daily load of bus passengers . Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture Major controversy over U. S. presidential election (November 7-December 13, 2000) September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New Yorks World Trade Center and Virginias Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. ...

Resurrection

After Dinesh Gunawardena was made Minister of Transport in 2001, he consulted Anil Moonesinghe (by them Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Vienna) and others on how the transport services were to be improved. This was followed up with a Bill to set up the CTB once again. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the bill, but with the fall of the government delayed its presentation to Parliament. Finally, in early 2005, the institution was resurrected as the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB). 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Hungarian: Bécs, Czech: Vídeň, Slovak: Viedeň, Romany Vidnya; Serbian: Beč) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine states (Land Wien). ... 2005 (MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Livery

The CTB originally painted its buses red and blue, and the the second-hand London Transport which were the backbone of the modern fleet just needed to be half-painted in blue, saving on costs. When Aluminium bus bodies became the norm, large areas of the surface were left unpainted, with just red front and back and blue strips down the side, in order to save money.

The Logo was originally a blue oval with the words 'CTB' and the equivalents in Sinhala and Tamil painted on it in red. From 1970 this was replaced by an oval with a lion rampant or on field azure. Image File history File linksMetadata SLTB_logos. ... Sinhala (also Sinhalese, formerly Singhalese) is the language spoken by the Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ... Tamil is a classical language and one of the major languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. ... Heraldry is the science and art of describing coats-of-arms, also referred to as armorial bearings or simply as arms. Its origins lie in the need to distinguish participants in battles or jousts and to describe the various devices they carried or painted on their shields. ...

The present SLTB logo returns to the 1970s heraldic symbols, but with 'SLTB' instead of 'CTB' in Roman lettering, with 'Sri' added to the Sinhala script (with no change in the Tamil script). ...

References

• Aryadasa Ratnasinghe, 'The development of bus transport in Sri Lanka', Daily News, 12 October 2004.
• Chandra Edirisuriya, 'To mark landmark foreign participation in public transport in Sri Lanka : Annals of omnibus transport', Daily News, 18 December 2002.
• Dinesh Gunawardena, ‘Anil Moonesinghe - a political and managerial visionary’, Daily News, 8 Dec 2005.
• Editorial, 'Resurrecting the CTB', Sunday Observer, 27 March 2005.
• Special Correspondent, 'Paving the way for resurrection of CTB', Sunday Observer, 3 April 2005.

Links

• Pictures of decrepit British buses in CTB, RTB and 'peoplised' livery, post-1978
• Classic Buses Profiles: PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN SRI LANKA, text and pictures